Too Dark to See
by Aragem
Summary: UPDATE! Rakka says goodbye to Carol. Roland pays a visit, but with a purpose in mind.
1. Default Chapter

NOTES AND MUSINGS FROM AUTHOR: I like to insert my thought and feeling about chapters and others such things. So forgive me if I prattle on and on. If you want to give me feedback, but post them in the reviews and I'll respond in following chapters.

**THE FOLLOWING DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR ALL THE OF CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK. **

This is my first attempt at writing a Riddick fanfiction. I am so enthrall by Van Deisel's anti-hero character, that a fanfic story began to play out in my mind. To get in touch with Riddick's character, I rented all the released Chronicles. From the Xbox game "escape from Butcher Bay", Pitch Black, Dark Fury, and Chronicles of Riddick. Beginning with the game (which I beat in two days, the reason why I prefer RPGS to first person shooters) and straight through the movies, I tried to make myself more and more familiar and get inside Riddick's head so I could keep him in character in my story. But who can really truly understand Riddick?

Riddick spends all of Butcher Bay trying to escape. He kills countless guards and prisoners (at least that's how I played it) and in the end was willing to help Johns escape from Butcher Bay. Almost as if there was comrade relationship between them. Yet in Pitch Black he willingly cut Johns and left him to die at the jaws of the aliens.

And something that Jack and Imam may have probably never knew was that Riddick was SO close to leaving them behind on the dead planets, that is until Fry/Carolyn 'convinces' him to stay behind and save them. Throughout Dark Fury you can see that he cares about Imam and Jack as he protects them from the mercs and monsters that threatened them. Yet in Chronicles of Riddick, he took a different attitude toward them.

He was willing to kill Imam when he believed that he Imam betrayed him by revealing the planet he would be living at. Not much about Imam to say. He was a decent character anyway.

He cared enough for Jack to want to stay out of her life and not hamper innocence anymore than he already had in Dark Fury (when she killed that woman, I forget her name). Unfortunately, Jack was not so easily put off and ruined her chances for happiness when she joined a group of mercs and was sold into slavery where she commit many acts of murder and was sentence to Crematoria. When Riddick took a trip to Crematoria and met of with Jack, who wanted to be known as Kyra, he took no pity toward her. He was angry with her for making the stupid decisions she made, but he shown no regret or pity by stating firmly, "You signed with Mercs." Telling her that she got herself into this situation and she had no place to blame him for her mistakes. Yet he saved Kyra's life while they were escaping from the hot sun of Crematoria and the only reason why he went to face the Lord Marshall was to save Kyra. He allowed her to run on her own and fight, which was much different from the last two installments.

I suppose that you are wondering if I dislike Jack. Yeah, I don't like her very much. I can see why she would admire Riddick, but to go to such a point where she would join mercs to find him at age 12 was pretty stupid. She was just the stupid little kid that kept getting into trouble and the 'hero' had to bail her out. She was annoying in Pitch Black and Dark Fury, and to me, she was a Riddick wannabe in Chronicles.

But you see why I say that Riddick is complex. He's animalistic, sensual, a sociopath, and almost emotionless, yet he shows concern, desire, grief, and dare I say tenderness? He's a man so far from human society that he cannot be contained by human standards. He is a rogue, a vagabond, a loose screw on the face of this universe's society. So how can a writer truly keep him in character?

The best way would be to tell the story, not through his eyes, but through the eyes of another character (like I've seen so many Riddick fanfic writers do). There may be some scenes where it is told through Riddick's point of view and some memories, but mostly through the original character. Don't worry, there's gonna be lot of Riddick.

There are two other inspirations for this story. First being Haibane Renmei, created by Yoshitoshi Abe, the creator of Seriel Experiment Lain. It's a very good anime about a girl who hatches from a caccoon to find herself in town where humans and people with small angelic wings called Haibane coexist. It's very deep and moving. Sorry, it's a girl anime, meaning no guns, explosions, sex, swearing, drugs, alcohol, but there is smoking. It doesn't mean that guys can't appreciate it too. The inspiration is two things, names and a place.

I'm going to use the design of the town as setting of the story and the dormitory campus (which the Haibane use as their home). And the two names I'm stealing is Reki and Rakka (the two main characters of Haibane Renmei). I can't help it. I was trying to think up two futuristic female names, and then Reki and Rakka popped into my head and I imagined Riddick saying their names and well….they stuck and they're here to stay. They are also Japanese words. Reki meaning either small stone or pebble. Rakka meaning to fall or falling.

Another inspiration is from Grave of the Fireflies. A very very deep and thought provoking anime of all time. It's also the most powerful anti-war statement that I have ever seen. It's about two war orphans during the time of WWII when Japan is loosing the war with America. I can't say much more, but I bought this DVD around the time that the war with Iraq started and well……..it gave me a lot to think about. Please, watch this movie. It's the sort of movie that I believe that everyone should at least watch once in their lives.

This story takes place about two years after Dark Fury, after Riddick drops Imam and Jack off at New Mecca. To throw any mercs tracking him off his trail, he leaves the Helion section of space and goes to a neighboring section called the Green sector of space. Green due that most of the planets there have been recently colonized and the planets are flourishing with forests. He crashes onto a planet where there is political unrest.

A central leader or figure head wants to set up factories and mine the planets' resources and become a more populated and high tech as the planets of Helion sector. Of course, this is met with resistance, being that the inhabitants of these planets enjoy the clean air, untainted water, and fertile soil. The populations live in early European fashion, with cobbled streets and lamp lights and stone buildings with farming. The unrest is growing more and more tense as the leader, the Caretaker, begins to hire mercs to form…..an army?

Riddick crashes onto one of these towns and near an abandoned dormitory where a couple of families takes up residence to escape from the unrest near the City. There he will meet my two original characters with the stolen names Reki and Rakka.

Reki, pregnant with triplets, wife to a merchant, and mother to a four year old son, Sami. Rakka, a young woman caring for her ailing mother, who meets Reki while traveling to escape the possibility of a war.

That's all for the previews and such. Tired, wanna go to bed now. Night. Post chapter one tomorrow.


	2. Rain and Dark

It was raining….or perhaps the better words would be storming. She was nervous. Always had been since she was a child. She would cower in her room and pray for the storm to end. She hated storms because they made the lights go out sometimes. She hated the darkness. She hated not being able to see. She hated not knowing what's ahead of her.

Then that must mean she hated what is now.

She rubbed her eyes. She was tired. She should sleep more, but she couldn't. Dreams would come back and what was the use anyway. The sleep never satisfied her. She always woke up to harsh reality.

She stood from the wooden table and walked toward the glass doors of the balcony. Harsh rain was making her view of the outside into a warp and writhing vision. She looked over the empty campus, always empty, since for whatever reason the students abandoned this facility. Only she, her mother, and Reki and her son occupied the campus.

She needed to go back. Her mother will wake and worry where she was. Then she may try to get out of bed and end up killing herself from exertion. The disease was eating her…killing her slowly before Rakka's own eyes. The medicine…was no longer having any effect. The town's physician was amazed that she was still alive at all. He told Rakka to expect that any day….any day, her mother…..

No, don't think of that. Please….stop stop stop stop stop stop.

Deep breaths….deep breaths…

The one that needed to see the doctor, but refuses to was Reki, a historian professor at a college in the City. She was pregnant with triplets. Reki and her husband, Marchel, chose not to know the sexes. They wanted to be surprise as was the old fashion way from long ago. Reki was always interested in ancient human history.

"_Did you know that back then…they wouldn't even know whether they were getting a boy or girl? They got to choose a boy and a girl name before the baby was born. If we get at least one boy, he'll be Marchel Jr. the rest we'll decide when they're born."_

What shocked Rakka even more was that Reki was going to have natural birth. Meaning she wanted no drugs, no doctors, no treatments, checkups, or any medical advice.

"_I'm going to give birth to these babies the way our foremothers did thousands of years ago. It'll be educational."_

"_Reki, wouldn't that be dangerous? I know that women gave birth without any medical knowledge back then….but many many women and babies died because of that."_

"_I gave birth to Sami naturally and I'm fine and he's fine. I'll be okay."_

"_But you have triplets and you've been getting stomach aches. I know I know little about pregnancy, but that can't possibly be good. Please, let me go to town and arrange for someone to send a hover here to pick you up. You can spend the rest of your term in town near the doctor."_

Reki had fervently refused and would not continue the conversation.

Another worry. Another worry to add on top of many. And then there was Sami, a small and homesick little 3 year old. He cried….wanting his father who was still living in the City handling business and the apartment they had inhabited. He hated living in what he believed was a haunted castle.

Rakka stared at the pale reflection of herself. Her copper color hair hung loosely in a ponytail down her back and her beautiful blue-violent almost shined back at her. Beautiful eyes were a common trait of her people, Hitomians. It was a pun from the old Japanese word Hitomi, meaning mystic eyes or that was what she believed. Even her shade of eyes was rare among Hitomians. Eye color range from wine red to aqua sheen. It was a bright, mystical color among her people, meaning that she would see many things that others would not. That….was very painfully true.

A light…..out there over the woods. She stared, her eyes squinting. A comet? No…it was close….

It was wavering and flashing and then it disappeared into the woods. Seconds later bright orange light flashed from deep within the forest. She stared long and hard and saw nothing else.

A missile? Please, don't let it be a missile! The war has started?

She watched the sky and saw nothing else but flashes of lightning. She continued to watch. She yelped when a small voice sounded from behind.

"Rakka? Are you up?"

Sami was standing in the door way of the guest room. His wrinkled nightshirt hung at his knees and his ruffled sandy hair caught the hallway light and almost glowed.

"Sami! What are you doing out of bed, sweety?"

"I want Foogle."

"Foogle? Your bear?"

"Yeah!"

"Honey, you didn't leave him outside, did you?"

"Uh-huh."

She grimaced. That stuffed bear was soaked and would be hell to wash and dry out without ruining it.

"We'll go get him in the morning, it's raining right now."

"No! Now!"

"Not now. It's raining."

"Please!"

"No, you can't sleep with him. He'll be soaking wet."

"But I want him. He'll get lost!"

"No, he'll be right out there in the morning. Let's go back to bed."

Sami's eyes started to tear up. He small lips pulled back and a high pitch whimper slid from his mouth. It was sign of a screaming fit. No, not this. Not this…no, don't wake up my mother who needs all the rest she can get to live. Don't wake up Reki who would stay up with you and comfort you and not get the sleep she needs to keep herself and her babies alive.

"Alright, I'll get him. But you need to go to your room now. You can't sleep with him, he'll be too wet."

"Okay."

Sami practically pranced away down the hall. At that moment, the rain suddenly slacked off. Thunder still ensued, but the rain had weakened to a drizzle. She turned back to the glass paned doors and watched for the light. Nothing….did she imagine it…possibly, from lack of sleep or worries. She turned away and missed seeing a small flaring spark within the darkness burst and sparkled and then slowly fade away.

Her boots slicked through the wet grass as she left the gate of the academy. Her overcoat hung over her slim body and trapping her nightgown against her body. She carried no light for that there was none available. It was something she was always meaning to do. But the needs and demands of a pregnant woman, an ailing old woman, and a sad child kept her at the campus and away from the store in town to purchase a flashlight.

She neared the area where Sami liked to play. It was within the clearing near the small stream and along the path that led into town. She saw some of his plastic toys scattered, but no bear. Ah, yes, she remembered that Sami would, under supervision, would enter the forest along the edge. She scanned the ground along the roots and glowing grass. Nothing.

Maybe a little further. She stepped alongside a tree and looked deeper. It was too dark. She took a breath, waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and edge further forward. Her eyes scanned the ground as she stepped lightly.

Frustration ebbed at her. Why the hell did Sami have to want his bear now? Why the hell does he have to pitch a fit each time he doesn't get what he wants? Why can Reki teach her kid some manners? Why can't Reki see that she is hurting herself and her babies by not going to the doctor? Why can't she see that she is just adding to Rakka's anxiety? Why did her mother get sick? Why can't she get better? Why does she have to die so soon when Rakka needed her? Why should Rakka have to leave her home in the City where her mother may have received what adequate treatment they could have afforded? Why couldn't they have driven on? Why did they have to stop their hover anyway? Why couldn't they have left her alone? Why did she…..have to walk so far into the forest?

She turned and saw that she could barely see where she had entered the forest. She had gone too far. She groaned and cursed softly. That was it, she was going back. Hopefully Sami had fallen asleep while waiting for her and Foogle. And if he continues to whine about it, she'll give him a good smack across the bottom and if Reki had anything say about that, and then she tell Reki she can go to….

"Dammit!" Her boot sunk into mud. Her ankle disappeared and the mud almost seeped into her boot over the top. Rakka refused to extract her foot from the boot and risk stepping in the mud. She supported her weight forward, both hands on a nearby tree and placed a foot onto solid ground. She struggled with the demanding mud, her head low and hair looped over her arm and hung loosely.

As she struggled to free herself, so deep into her fight for freedom, a hand drew forward from the darkness. It was roughly calloused and bared small scars along the knuckles. It touched her hair without her notice. She never knew that a strand of her hair was felt and rubbed between thumb and fingers while she cursed softly and wrenching with her leg. With a wet pop, her boot was free, and as she stood straight, the hand released her hair and slid back into the darkness without her notice.

She was surprised that she was almost out of breath. She took a few moments to breathe and collect herself. She wiped the worst of the mud on the wet grass before continuing onward. She walked for a few moments, then halted.

Wait, where was the edge? She was heading in the right direction wasn't she? Wasn't the edge ahead? No….she was walking east away from the mud hole, or was she walking south? What direction was she taking when she stepped into the mud?

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! She was lost! She was fucking lost because of some spoiled brat's toy!

She look around herself. Dark all around her. She could barely see beyond her arm's length. A wellspring of panic began to form. Tears of frustration, anger, and fear well in her eyes. No, she will not cry. She will not cry like a child frightened of the dark. There was nothing there to hurt her. They have never spotted any of the wolf like predators of this planet in this part of the planet. She was safe, she was alright. There was no monster there to get her. It was just that……

"It's too dark to see." She whispered to no one, but the darkness.

"Not for me." The darkness replied.

A large, roughly callous hand sprang from the darkness and curled around her face and covered her mouth before she could yelp. She manage a high whimper, much like whimper Sami emitted earlier, almost years ago; before a second hand armed her arm and hauled her into the darkness.


	3. Grasp

_I'mgonnadiemommynothisisn'thappeningpleaseIdon'twanttodie_

She lashed with her free arm. It swung through empty darkness, and then it was caught in a vice like grip, and a thick arm snaked across her chest. Her arm was dragged over her breast and held against her chest. The thick arm, of the hand smashing her mouth, wrapped around her, trapping her other limb against her side. All she could do was bend her forearm up and claw at the skin of the assault limb.

She struggled, her screams muffled against the large hand. Her body writhed and twisted against a torso that felt as strong and solid as a tree. Her arm was released and both of her hands curled toward the hand on her face to pry it away. Something sharp, curvature, and metallic touched her throat. She froze, and her hands lowered to remain motionless at her chest. Lightning flashed, and the metal winked blue silver at her.

Her chest rose and fell against her arms and the attacker's. Her head angle away from the blade, but it followed, keeping enough pressure to indent her skin and almost draw blood. She felt something lower near her sloped neck and loose, thin strands of her hair fluttered as a deep breath was indrawn close to her skin and hair. She felt the cool air stir against her skin causing goose bumps to raise on her arms. The thick chest pressed against her shoulder blades. Warm air blew against her skin and hair as the breath was released.

"Nice." The voice was rough, threatening, and had the potential to be cold as steel.

Her belly did a roll when she realized that her assailant smelled her. _Nice. _What did that…..oh god…..oh god……oh god…..it was going to happen to her…..she was going to be……after all that she…..oh god…..no…..no…..no….Her knees weakened and she would have fallen if not for the arm around her. Tears, which had been spilling from her eyes, slithered downward and pool over the hand and slipped over his fingers.

"I'm going to take my hand from your mouth." The graveled voice said into her ear. "You scream and you'll get a second mouth." The voice was low and non-threatening, yet it was full of meaning and intention. "Understand?"

She nodded. Pressure was slowly released from her lips and the hand moved and gathered her wrists together in one tight grip.

"Please…..don't hurt me….." She whispered.

"Don't give me a reason and I won't." Came the dark reply. "What planet is this?"

Confusion struck through the nausea of fear and dread. What…..why doesn't…..oh god! It was a ship! A ship that she saw earlier, not a comet or a missile….god, she was so ignorant.

The blade bit into her skin stopping her revelation cold. A streamer of blood ooze from the blade and sliced flesh.

"Haven. The planet, Haven."

"Where's the nearest ship yard?"

"In….the City."

"Where is the City?"

"Far away. 500 hundred kilometers."

"When's the next transport?"

"The….there…is no…."

"No what?" Blade seeped deeper into her skin.

"There are no more transports. There won't be anymore for a long time."

A long pause and silence filled the air. She dared not swallow the bile in her throat unless she would have the blade go deeper.

"Why the hell is that?"

"The….there….there's problems with the government. There might be a war. The Caretaker has ceased all transports…..after…..his son was killed."

"Shit…."

They stood like that for….she didn't know how long. It seemed like hours. The sound of her deep pants and the grip on her wrists. Her hands were going numb and bitter cold was starting to touch her skin.

What was he going to do? Ask her more questions? Kill her?

"The buildings, over on the hill outside these woods, who lived there?"

Her blood turned cold. "No one." She lied.

There was a flash and pain lashed along her jaw, blood oozing from a thin cut. She yelped and twisted forward, her hands still trap. She was yanked around, and her hands and arms were yanked upward and she was almost dangling off her toes. For the first time she saw him.

He was tall and big. Not big as in fat, but as in height, build, and muscle. A heavy cloak hung off his shoulders and beneath he wore a black shirt that almost strained against a beautiful masculine frame. He was all muscle and power; he could easily overpower her as one could pull the wings off a butterfly.

His face……his lips were full and his nose broad. His jaws were thick with muscle and stubbles covered his mouth, chin, and shaven head. Black goggles rested above his eyes…..his eyes……silver…..silver as newly made metal…..silvery as cold snow in the darkest night…..like the moon ebbing rays….silvery as the blade who tip dented her throat.

Another time, another situation, she would have been feeling anything other than terror…yet…the attraction was forming rebellious against the numbing terror…

Silver eyes…..was he Hitomian, like her?….no….he wasn't….no Hitomian male got this big…it just wasn't in their system.

He leaned forward, breath on her face. "Don't lie to me."

"It's….just me…..my mother…..and Reki and her child. There's no one else. Her husband is away on business. I…don't know when he'll be back due to…..the transports being out…."

He regarded her with icy eyes.

She swallowed and kept talking….why? To please him so he wouldn't hurt her again…..or to keep her sanity…? "We left….the City. We wanted to get away……from the City….because…..because…..I….no…we….were afraid…..there….was riots…..people were talking of revolting……we couldn't….."

"You look cold." His voice lowered into a purr that rubbed her skin like warm fur.

Oh god….please….don't let this happen to me…..please….I'll be good. I won't complain anymore….let me see tomorrow….let me be able to go home…..I'll say my prayers from now on…..please…..I'm sorry for what I did to that boy…..I'm so sorry….I'll never hurt anyone ever again….

Her wrists were released and she dropped heavily onto her feet.

"Go."

As the feeling seeped into her hands, numbing disbelief waved through her. He was

letting her go. She was….

"If you want to stay, then…." He raised a large hand as if to touch her face.

She spun and fled. Her boots slipped out from beneath her many times. She almost twisted her ankles. Low branches swiped at her as she tore through. Keep going keep going keep going. Her ears strained for any clashing footsteps of pursuit. There was none, but she could almost feel him as if he was behind her. She could see him in her mind, closing the gap between then and seizing her from behind and raising that knife…..

She almost screamed in mad panic as she ripped through the edge and into the clearing of the campus. Her boots kicked up mud and gravel as she scrambled into the courtyard. She cursed that the gates were too heavy for her to close.

She didn't stop until she was inside guest room kitchen and got a knife. It was cooking knife meant for cutting meat, it would do. She locked the balcony doors and fled downstairs and locked every window and door she could find. She hadn't yet thoroughly explored the campus. She knew that it held many rooms in each wing, the four buildings surrounding the courtyard.

She kept looking out the windows, expecting to see a figure creeping out of the woods. Should she wake up the others? No, what would that do? Reki didn't need any stress much less her mother.

Why the hell didn't they get a fucking radio! Dammit? No flashlight, doctor almost two miles away, and no goddamn radio? Even with a pregnant woman and a sick elderly? She must be out of her mind. Tomorrow…..no at the crack of dawn they were ALL going to town. Together. She had that old broken down scooter from….back when human resided on earth. Reki loved it, but Rakka thought it a death trap waiting to ensnare any fool who rode it.

She could drive it, her mother on the back and somehow they could balance Reki on the edge of the seat and Sami…..shit, it wouldn't work. Dammit! She'll have to go alone and get help. Why the hell didn't they have a radio! A communicator! SOMETHING?

Sleep. Yes, sleep. She needed to sleep. She went to bed, on the bench in the room she shared with her mother, still wearing the rain coat and boots. She put the knife under her pillow and slept on her belly.

* * *

Morning light, filtering through the cracks of blinders on the windows woke her. It shone into her eyes and almost blinded her. Her back hurt and her nerves were shot. She pushed herself to sit on the bench and stared at the far wall in a daze. Her mother still slept peacefully on the bed, quite unaware of the horrors that happened last night. She would awaken soon though.

The birds chirped cheerfully outside despite her mood and she could hear Reki down the hall moving around. It seemed like a normal morning. Why was she feeling…..so empty.

Was it just a dream? No, a nightmare? Was that beautiful dangerous man with the silvery eyes just a bad dream? No, no matter how much she wished it so, it was real. Her cut jaw, and soiled coat, and boots proved it. Where was the fear? The gnawing anxiety? Her heart was pounding so fast last night….she couldn't sit still……but now, she wanted to lie down and forget….forget that man, his eyes, his body, his voice…..

Reki was talking. To Sami? Not her mother, her mother was in bed. A voice replied. An adult male voice…deep with rubbing gravel that rubbed her like fur...oh shit.

The terror flooded back and she got numbingly to her feet and scrambled down the hall. She twisted into the guest room, they had used as a dinner room and kitchen. It was unusually dim, the curtains were closed. He…..was there….sitting at the table with a coffee mug in front of him. He was leaning on his elbows and his fingertips forming a steeple together. He saw her with twin silvery orbs and said nothing, but a small smile tugged his lips.

"Rakka, is that you?" Reki called. She poked her head through the curtain that blocked the doorway of the kitchen. "Hey, say hello to Johns."

"Johns….."

"Rak…ka."

Hearing him say her name…..sent something through her….it was like he was rolling her name in his mouth, tasting it…..tasting her….

"He just arrived in town last night. Had nowhere to stay, but since we have so much room, I told he could stay as long as he liked. It would be nice to have a man around here. I feel safer already."

_Reki__, I hope you are the first one he kills._

Reki emerge from the kitchen carrying a coffee canister. She set it near the man called Johns. "I hope its dim enough for you. We could put something heavier over the windows if you want?"

"It's fine."

Reki took in Rakka's appearance. "Rakka! What happened? You look like a mess? Did you go outside this morning? Do you know you have dried blood on your face?"

"Uh….I went out to look for Sami's bear……"

"Oh, his bear? Oh, dear. I hope you were not out long looking for it. Sami remembered that he left it in his playroom, in the toy box."

_I hope the brat is the next to go._

"I'm going to go check on him now. You two just visit for a while. Rakka and I will get breakfast ready when I come back."

Reki waddled out of the room, leaving Rakka alone with…..him. He sipped his coffee, his eyes on her. She stared back. Bright blue-violet eyes met gleaming slivery eyes.

He set the mug on the table and licked his upper lip. He tilted his head and said, "You know….just as a tip…you don't wanna hide that knife under your pillow. Harder to get to. And sleeping on your stomach….." He shook his head. "Someone could come in and stab you in the back. Ya can't block them from that position."

If Rakka hadn't been leaning against the doorway, she would have collapse to her knees. She swallowed, she wanted to speak, but say what…..get out of here? Don't hurt us? He wouldn't listen, he wouldn't need to. He already knew she was terrified of him and that seemed to satisfy him deeply.

She felt trapped. As trapped as she was last night within his grasp. Hell, she was still in his grasp.


	4. 22

_Oh, god why is he here. What does he want? Oh, god why didn't I get a communicator! He's gonna kill us all. _

The sun beamed down, drying the revenants of last night's storm. Her boots treaded carefully along the dry island patches of earth within the puddles. Her thick knitted long skirt jostled from her strides and her high neck dark sweater protected her from the clinging cold of an ending winter.

Not far behind her trudged a larger figure. He was swinging a pack over his shoulder and black goggles covered his eyes.

* * *

_"Johns wants to know how to get to town. I told him that you would lead him there."_

Damn you, Reki!

_"Reki, it's…not a good idea. I'm needed here. Joh… "he" can find the way himself. Just follow the path."_

_"You keep saying how we need more supplies. You can go get them and he can help carry you carry them back. We'll be fine. Your mother will be alright. I'll watch her."_

* * *

Despite her attempts of protests, she was stuck with her unwanted task. Reki blindly insisted she 'do the right thing' and get herself killed. It irritated Rakka. She wanted to tell Reki about what had happened. But each time….each time…..he was there…listening or watching her.

Rakka was trapped. What could she do other than change clothes, with her ears pricked for footsteps and a chair pinning the door shut. Then she set out with the man who could easily break her limbs and leave her for dead at his whim.

Water churned in the river to the left and electric poles lined the right. Further ahead, near the town was the Generator. It was powered by the running river and supplied the town with power. Further to the west were more windmills that also supplied power. The town also had solar power farm equipment. It was a self sufficient town, which took nothing from the planet, and relying on nothing, but medical supplies, fabric, and other necessities from the outside world that the town could not provide itself.

It was so different from the City. She had never walked on a blade of grass since she first step foot into this area of the planet. There was no constant hum of hovers cruising along the airways, or hums and clicks of communicators, entertainment vids, and other electronic appliances. For a while, she believed that she would go insane from the sheer silence.

She took a quick glance back. He was still there, following her like a bad nightmare. She couldn't tell whether he was meeting her gaze or not due to the black goggles hiding his eyes. She swung her head forward. She felt exposed, like she should be fleeing for her life, but if she did….it would be an invitation to him. Was he waiting to see what she would do?

The town came slowly into view as the path sloped. The path continued and then spilt into a cross like shape. Center was an old clock tower, styled after 1800 with real cogs and wheels and nothing digital within its makings. The streets were cobbled and bushes and tree flourished amongst benches and edges of shops.

Yep, very very very different then the industrial City. And very very quiet.

It wasn't long before their boots started to clop against cobbled paths. She kept her eyes forward and ignored the stares of any by standers, but she could hear their hushed voices.

"Is that the Hitomian….you know with the sick mother and the eyes….?"  
"Who's that with her?"

"Never seen him before."

"Boyfriend?"

"Don't look it. She's walking as far ahead of him as she can."

"Her loss."

_Fuck you, assholes. _She thought as she turned onto the street that lead to the store.

It wasn't long before she stopped the store. She turned, not knowing what she would say, then…..he was gone. She stared blank at the empty space that he had invadingly occupied. Maybe their problem was gone, over. She felt uplifting relief until…..

"Rak…ka."

She spun and nearly smacked into the man. Her heart skipped a beat; she had not seen him move or heard him at all. Yet he managed to sneak out from behind her and as she had turned he brought himself behind her again.

He had a teasing smirk on his lips, and she glared. _Bastard, he's getting off scaring me." _

"This is where I need to go." She said, trying to keep the cold steel from her tone. The last thing she needed was to piss him off by coping an attitude and get cut again. Her band aides covered the cuts on her throat and jaw.

He shrugged, turned, and thankfully left. She watched him leave. Maybe he won't be back, maybe, just maybe…..a huge rock will fall from the sky and flatten him to death. Maybe he can get into a fight somewhere and get…..no….he knew how to handle himself. She'd be better off wishing for a falling rock.

She went inside. As she approached the counter, she grimaced when she saw Shaira, the store owner's daughter. She would not shut up about Rakka's eyes. She said that she wanted to plan her upcoming wedding with colors based off her eyes.

Then her eyes caught something new. A man was leaning against the counter speaking with Shaira. He wore a sweeping long white trench coat that hung to the top of his traveling boots. A cowboy hat topped his head and his long dark hair was swept back into a long ponytail. He was giving Shaira a toothy grin and may have been making a joke, because Shaira was giggling her high pitch giggle.

When the door shut behind her, the man looked in her direction and grinned. His eyes were…..the right was green and the other was pink. He had high cheek bones and a scar across the corner of his lips which gave it a slight, but attractive distortion of his mouth.

"Hey, Rakka."

The man pushed himself from the counter and tipped his hat toward her. "Howdy, ma'am."

"Uh…hello."

"You're here for refugee rations, right?" Shaira asked.

"Yes….."

"How's Reki? Is she doing alright? It must be hard to be pregnant with triplets." Shaira asked as she turned and enter the back of the store.

"She's fine. She's hanging in there."

"Is Sami still cute?" Shaira called.

While Shaira was gathering her supplies, the man in the white trench coat was giving her a flirtatious grin. Rakka looked away and answered, "Oh, he's…..kinda still cute I guess. Between his fits and crying that is."

"Better get use to it. When those babies are born, it's going to be constant."

"Shaira, do you have a communicator? And maybe some flashlights?" _A gun?_

"Uhhh….yeah, I believe that we do."

"How much?"

"Well, the big ones are out of your price range. But I have some cheap miniature ones for 5 UDs a piece. But a communicator….well….."

"I….Shaira, can't you…can't I put on charge or something….I mean…..we _really _need a communicator."

"Sorry, we don't do things like that here."

"Okay…thanks, I'll take the lights."

Shaira emerged with a box of rations and the lights balanced on top. Rakka got her card from the satchel at her hip. Any moment now…..

"I still can't get over your eyes! Every time I see them….it takes my breath away."

"Thank you…."

Shaira placed the parcels into a synthetic sack and scanned Rakka's card. The man kept his place near the counter, whether or not his eyes were still on Rakka, she didn't know or wanted to know. She had enough problems right now in the form of a six-foot-knife-happy-bastard.

She left the store, saying good bye to Shaira and promising to say hello to Reki and Sami for her. She stepped out in the despiteful cold and pondered on what to do.

Should she hurried back to the campus? Leave the man behind and pray that he gets lost. No, it's just one path back to the campus. And the people here were too sickeningly courteous they would point him in the right direction.

A hand appeared before her face. She started as a small, slim communicator was dropped into her bag. The man from inside the store was beside her.

"You needed this?"

"Uh….yes…..you didn't….need to….."

"No, problem." He grinned, baring clean white teeth. Rakka felt herself flush, not sure on how to react. Before she could continue to politely refuse it, he clasp a hand on her shoulder and squeeze. "You need it more than me…….Oh, hello…..Richard B. Riddick."  
_Riddick?_

She felt the…..how can one describe it...? Hostility, tension……like fume flowing from gasoline….one spark and all goes up in flames. She felt as if she was standing in a puddle of gas.

The man…….Richard B. Riddick was standing ten feet away. His pack had been dropped to the street. His hand near his hip…..his knife…..

The man beside her, whose hand tightly gripped her shoulder, shifted his weight, and Rakka caught a glimpse of a gun at his hip. It….Reki would be thrilled….was a 22. Caliber pistol.

If she was standing in a puddle of gas, then there was two sparks ready to ignite. Damn.

She tried to step away, get out of the way of whatever inferno may rage, but the hand on her shoulder pulled…._pulled…_her back.

"You know my name…..but I don't know yours…."

"Twenty-Two. Call me Twenty-Two."

"Labeling dog-catchers as numbers now?"

"Oh, I ain't a dog-catcher…..I'm a gardener….I kill weeds."

_Dog catchers?__ Gardener? Weeds? _They were speaking her language, but they might as well be speaking a different language to her ears. She was going to be stabbed or shot to death…..probably both…..when they go at it. She felt hard ice on her back, despite the beads of sweat on her brow.

"Gardener? Never heard that before."

"I'm a very special kind of gardener."

The tension, fumes, heat, rising…….she coughed. She didn't know why…..she couldn't remember whether she had anything clogging her throat or not. Her bag fell from her hands and plopped onto the street. Somehow, the items didn't spill out of the bag.

"You may be a dog, Riddick…..but I'm here…..for a special weed, not a dog." The man squeezed and released her shoulder, turned, and walked down the street. She stood, frozen….exhilaration fluttering through her.

The man…..no….Riddick….watch Twenty-Two leave. She couldn't see his eyes, but she knew he was watching the other man closely. His hand….never left his hip.

* * *

She didn't speak to him. She didn't say anything to him while they left town. She didn't say anything to him when he picked up the supplies and thrust them roughly into her arms.

She breathed deeply, and couldn't believe that she was still alive. They were ready to kill each other. That electric heat between them and she caught in the middle. Something had happened…..Riddick had believed that…Twenty-Two….was something….. but Twenty-Two told him he wasn't what Riddick believed him to be….That was what she could garner from the exchange.

Riddick…..who was he? She knew for sure that he came from the falling light…..no, his space craft. Dog-catcher…….was Riddick afraid of being caught? Was he a fugitive? Yes, that makes sense….

But what did Twenty-Two mean by being a gardener and killing special weeds? It surely must mean that Twenty-Two had no interest in Riddick……but….it bothered her. She felt like a child, where adults would spell out words to prevent the child from comprehending that she was going to the doctor, not getting ice cream, or going to bed early. Except, this was life and death and it meant hers….

Dammit! Why can't she be safe? She left the City to be safe with her mother……God!

At least, at the very least, they got a communicator.

She took a peek into the bag. She didn't see it. It must have slipped to the bottom. She would see it later…….no…….she should be able to feel it through the bottom of the bag with her hand. She slowed and looked inside. She shifted aside the rations and lights…but it was not there. Could it be underneath somwhere? She stopped and set the bag down onto a dry patch of dirt, her heart pounding.

One by one, she took each ration kit from the bag and then the lights. It was empty, no communicator. Her breathing quickened as she checked the lights. It was small and slim, maybe she was holding it with the lights without knowing it….

"Looking for something?" A shadow fell over her and her frantic search.

He….Riddick was standing over her. She tried to ignore the rush of fear….she shoved it down….no, she would not give him the satisfaction….

"The communicator……he….that Twenty-Two man gave me a communicator." She placed the rations kit one by one into the bag. Maybe it was between two of them….no….dammit!

"Your imagination."

"No, it wasn't." She gritted her teeth. "He dropped a com into my bag, before…you showed up and tried to start a fight."

"I wasn't startin' shit…."

"Yeah, fucking right." She muttered as she reached out for the last ration.

A step. Nothing more. Then his boot was pinning her hand to the dirt. It was applying just enough pressure to hurt, but not to crush….yet.

"Fuckin' right, it is." Was the cool tone in the grinding voice.

She swallowed, her face was level with his knee and her ear brushed his pants leg slightly. "Stop it. Leave me alone, leave us alone. What do you want? What are……" _hiding from?_

"Sister, there's a lot of things I want….."

"Then why the hell aren't you out there getting them….Johns….no, wait….Riddick, wasn't it? If that's your name……? Thought you wanted….a space station….to repair your crashed ship…..that's what you said before you cut me." She was fucking insane for bring that up. Insane with fear, distress, anger…..and many other things. Tempting fate was insanity.

He moved…..to do what she never knew…..for that she acted…..

She struck out with a fist toward his crotch. Her fist was caught in a firm grip and her body was reeling. It was as if she had gone through a time warp. One second she was on her knees before him and then her body was in a heap on the side of the road. A boot kicked her stomach and she saw stars. She rolled onto her back, her mind reeling. She snapped into reality as a huge figure loomed over her.

She kicked herself back away from him, ignoring the urge to vomit. A hand seized her shoulder and she batted, spit, kicked, and cursed. It did nothing. She was a powerless against him as a newborn kitten against a rabid wolf. Her arm was grabbed and she kicked her feet into the ground, digging her heels into the grass, putting all her strength into resisting him. He pulled her to him as if she was sitting in grease.

He pinned her beneath him as he knelt atop of her. Both her arms were held to her chest with one hand while the other grasped her chin and her head was tilted back, forced to look up at him. He brought his face close to hers….

"Don't ever fuck with me, bitch…"


	5. Carolyn

Something cold alighted on her cheek. Another one landed on her brow. On her nose. Her eye.

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Snow….it was snowing….very unusual for this time of year. And she wasn't wearing enough to stay warm. Damn, she should have brought her overcoat.

What the hell is wrong with her?

"What the hell is wrong with you?" A gravel filled voice spoke from above.

God?

She opened her eyes. Black goggles.

Satan.

She coughed. She blinked her eyes batting away the wet bits of ice on her eyelids. She felt cold….no, freezing. "What happened?"

"You fainted."

"I want up." She pushed herself carefully, leaning back on her hands. Riddick was still kneeling atop of her legs.

"Then get up."  
"Get off."  
"Fuck off."  
She ignored her pounding head and scooted her body back. Riddick let her and they both stood. Her head hurt and she coughed again. The sky was cloudy and snow floated from the dingy gray from above.

"You hit me." She swallowed.

"Trust me, sweetheart, if I had hit you, you'd still be on the ground." He shifted his cloak into place on his broad shoulders.

"Don't touch me again."

"What's to stop me?"  
"Leave me alone." Tears were blurring her eyes. Why did she have to cry now…..she was still scared….. "Leave us alone. Just go away. Get your things and please go away."  
"Fine."

She looked at him. "What?"

"I'll leave."

"That easy?"

"I know when I'm not wanted."  
She coughed again. "Good."

She nearly fell over as she bent to pick up the rations. She thought for a few moments that she was going to vomit. She sniffled and rubbed her sleeve at each eye to wipe away the tears.

* * *

It had to be a phenomenon for it to blizzard at this time of year. Snow was billowing down on them. It was as if the scuffle never happened. She trudged forward and he followed her from behind.

She gritted her teeth against the cold. Fortunately the nausea had passed and she could contend with the snow and cold with a steady head. She batted away icy flakes from her lashes and the campus come into view.

There was sound, a high wail. Riddick had halted. Was it a siren? Tension filled the air. She turned and watched him. His head was tilted. Was he listening or sniffing the air?

The high wail was coming from the campus building, where Rakka and the others made their home.

Swoosh.

She dropped the rations just as Riddick hurtled forward, his cloak flying behind him. She stumbled and fell through the snow. Riddick disappear through the gate and there was a scream. Sami!

She left the supplies in the snow and stumbled forward. She fell as she rounded the gate entrance. She crawled and slipped on ice and mud until she was across the courtyard and to the gaping door.

"MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY!"

"Sami!" She called as she propelled herself through the door. She followed Riddick's wet tracks upstairs and to the guest room. Sami was on the floor screaming, his hands over his eyes and screaming at the top of his lungs. Riddick was standing at the curtain covering the kitchen's entrance.

"Reki!"  
She hurtled herself to Riddick's side and stared in dumb shock…..

The kitchen was a mess. Ration packs were spilt open and their contents scattered across counters, tables, and the floor. Standing naked amongst the mess, brandishing a knife, was Reki. Her long dark hair was matted and clumps of food and vomit clung to her dark tresses. Vomit, spittle, and food drizzled down her chin and between her breasts and over her swollen belly. The stench…made Rakka want to gag.

"The little fuckers won't stop kicking me."

She took the kitchen knife, the knife that Rakka had hidden in her room, and made a gash across her extended belly. Along with others gashes that zig-zag her swollen stomach.

"Gotta cut them out. Gotta gut the little fuckers…."

"Riddick….." Rakka whispered.

"You got a mess to clean up." Came the reply. He turned and walked away. He plucked his pack from the floor where he must have tossed it aside.

"Riddick!" She left the doorway and caught his arm, but he snatched himself away and continued toward the open guestroom door. She grabbed at his cloak. He turned and knocked her hands aside, hurting her.

"You can't leave! Not now!" She pleaded afraid to touch him again

"Make up your mind. Leave or stay? Just like a woman." He said without looking at her.

"Riddick! You bastard!"

A cry….a cry that froze them to their bone marrow. Not the crying of Sami nearby, but a long pitiful wail came from within the belly of Reki. Rakka forced herself to go to the curtain covered doorway and look inside. She was surprised to find that Riddick followed her.

Reki had dropped the knife and had her fingers deep within a gash and was stretching her stomach open. The ripping sound made Rakka's eyes hurt and her skin crawl. It sounded so much like cloth ripping. Blood spurted and gushed everywhere, spotting Riddick's pants and Rakka's skirt. A wail rose in octaves. It was of fear.

Riddick brushed Rakka aside. His voice rang as if it was the voice of God. "Shut that kid up and get some towels."

Rakka swooped and scooped Sami up. She dashed out of the guest room and down the hall. She deposited Sami on his bed in his room.

"Mommy, I want Mommy!"

"She's….hurt right now. But….Rid…Johns and I are going to make it better."

"RAKKA, GET THE FUCKIN' TOWELS, NOW!"

"Stay in here and be a good boy!" She dashed from the playroom and scrambled to the towel closet near the bathroom. She grabbed more than she could carry and dropped many on the way.

Reki was stretched across the floor and Riddick beside her. He held a lighter and his knife over its flame. Rakka dropped the towels near Riddick, "What are you…."

"Get some hot water." He said without looking at her.

"It'll take it a while to get hot with it snowing."

"Do it."

She stood and turned on the hot water facet and turned to watch. "If I had the com, I could…."

"Here!"

Riddick snatched a slim, dark com from a hidden slit at his pants leg. He tossed it and she barely caught it before it could hit the floor.

"You bastard." She hissed as the revelation dawned on her.

"Call them…they won't come."

"And why not?"  
"Snow."

She slapped the com onto the counter. "You took the com from my bag in town. When you…."

"Are ya gonna bitch 'bout that or are ya gonna help me gut this woman?"

"What? You're not…."

"Yeah."

"But Reki…."

"Right now, Reki could go fuck herself with a shiv." He snapped. "Turn off the lights."

"But you can't…."

"I can see." He pushed his goggles up his forehead with a thumb and closed his eyes. "Turn off the fuckin' lights."

Rakka obeyed and the only light was Riddick's lighter. The light splashed across their faces and made Riddick's eyes blaze. Rakka felt herself shiver, for that in this light, Riddick looked feral, dangerous, and…..seductive.

He placed the heated blade to Reki's stretched and cut flesh. The skin spilt neatly under Riddick's expert hand. Later, Rakka would vomit, later she would have nightmares, but now…..she was fascinated with the gore.

Blood spilled over the pieces of flesh and pooled on the floor, staining Riddick's pants. He reached into the gaping wound and his hand wrapped around…….a small body of an unborn baby who would never cry it's first cry. Where it should have been waving it's tiny arms and legs, it hung limply from Riddick's hand as if it was nothing more than a baby doll from a child's playroom. Riddick set the tiny corpse aside on the floor. Rakka noticed the specks of gray on the stillborn's limbs.

Rakka found herself kneeling on the other side of Reki. Riddick removed the second stillborn. It had a umbilical cord around its neck. She swore she saw something dart through Riddick's eyes….no…..it was the darkness.

_Reki__….why didn't you just go to a doctor?_

The wail echoed through the small room. Riddick shifted aside parts of Reki and reached in….

"C'mere, Carolyn."

He retrieved a screaming, angry, bloody baby girl.


	6. Lighter

_So much happened…Riddick…who is he?"_

Riddick had held the baby girl….Carolyn….out toward her and Rakka took her with towel in hands. The babe mewled noisily, as if demanding answers for being roughly removed from it's mother's womb. Rakka held the child close to her chest, ignoring the blood smearing on her sweater.

They used her mother's sewing kit to stitch up Reki's stomach. They took the dead babies and put them in an unused room, in the back, arranged neatly side by side and covered by a thick shawl. They moved Reki into her room downstairs.

She was still unconscious, her skin almost white. Rakka took a wet rag and wiped away the vomit and food from her mouth and chest. Then she cleaned away the blood smearing her stomach and waist. She noted that Reki had grayish blemishes on her arms, just like her dead baby's…….

Rakka stood at the kitchen sink, gliding warm water over Carolyn's tiny form. She lightly, gently, rubbed away the blood stains. The child mew and moved her small limbs, her tiny eyes tightly shut. Her small face was beautiful, not smashed from being pushed through the birth canal.

"Riddick….."

"Yeah…?" He was behind her. What he was doing now, she didn't know.

"I….I….never thought…..why did she do it?"

"How the hell would I know?"

She didn't reply; kept her attention at the tender task at hand. "She was fine this morning."

No reply. If she had looked over her shoulder, she would have seen him holding a ripped opened ration kit. He scooped some power with two fingers and sniffed it. He dabbed it on his tongue and then spat it out.

"Did ya know you were eating poison?"

She turned and looked at him over her shoulder. "What?"  
"Your rations are poisoned."

She coughed. She jerked her head to cough on her shoulder and away from the baby.

"Coughing….one of the first signs." He stood and again his presence filled the room. Hell, his presence still filled even when he was kneeling on the floor.

"What are you talking about?"

The lights blinked off. She froze with her hands protectively around Carolyn. Last thing they needed now was to fumble blindly in the dark.

Riddick moved past her, surprisingly without groping to find his way, and out of the ravaged kitchen. When her eyes adjusted to the dark, she swaddled Carolyn into a dry, clean towel and carried the child out of the kitchen. She saw Riddick standing at the balcony doors where what little moonlight there was illuminated his large frame. It gave his front an eerie glow, and his silver eyes glowed like a cat's.

His face was set and he stared hard at what only he could see. "Get yourself and the kids into one room and stay there till morning."

"Wha…?"

"Do it."

"Why?"

He left without saying a word. She watched the door he disappeared through and turned her attention to the glass doors. She cradled Carolyn close to her chest and stared hard over the woods….the same woods where Riddick's ship crashed. She stared, her rare eyes squinting slightly. When she was about to give up, a light…..two…..three beads of light appeared and jostled and move.

Flashlights?  
Is that where Riddick is going?

Why did he want…..oh god…...

She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. She hurried with her heart pounding. She gathered a basket of blankets for Carolyn and placed her in the same room with Rakka's mother, who for some miracle, was still asleep.

She found Sami sleeping fitfully on the floor of his playroom. She picked him up and ignored his mutters of protest. She placed him on her bench room along with a blanket.

Reki…..Could Reki be moved?

She hurried down the hall and flung Reki's door open. She stared. Reki's bed was empty.

"Reki?"

Intuition made her go to the room where she had placed the unborn babies. The two small bodies were gone.

* * *

She huddled against the balcony doors, watching the lights. They were closer now and were moving closer too. It was like trying to watch a flower bloom. When she stared unblinking, they didn't seem to get any closer, but if she looked away to check the time, they were much closer than they were before. Her heart was racing. She wanted to do something……but what? She tried the com, but got nothing but static. She didn't know whether Riddick did something to it or……it was something else.

A sickening sense of dread wormed through her stomach. She was standing right here, looking through these windows last night….the night that Riddick showed up.

Where was Riddick? Was he down there? What….no…_who_ was down there? Did he go out to meet someone…? No, that wasn't it. If it was just that, then he wouldn't have told her to get everyone into one room….they were in danger. Chills skipped down her arms and sides as her mind put into thought what she already knew with her instinct and senses.

She was surprise when she realized that she wanted him back here. To think that this morning she wanted him as far away from them as possible. She needed him back, especially with Reki missing. Rakka searched for her throughout the building, but she wasn't ready to brave the snow and search the other buildings.

Carolyn started crying. Rakka tore herself from the doors and went into the tattered kitchen. Thank god, Reki had enough sense to bring baby formula with her when she moved from the City. There should be plenty, enough for….three living babies.

She recalled the sight of the lifeless body in Riddick's hand and vomited into the kitchen sink. Does Reki know what she did? Does she even remember? What could she be doing with the dead little boys? Rakka wiped her mouth and washed her hands before preparing Carolyn's milk. She made sure that the vomit washed away into the drain by sloshing the water facet side to side.

As Rakka was measuring the amount of formula, she finally noticed that her clothes were still bloodied. Just like Riddick's when he left. The blood had climbed to his upper arms and stained his pants and shirt. It clung to her skirt and sleeves. It was as if they had both participated in a pagan blood ritual. A human sacrifice, except instead of taking out a still beating heart, they had remove a screaming infant.

She fed Carolyn her first meal while Sami and her mother stayed soundly asleep despite the infant's wails. She was grateful because she didn't know how she could explain to her mother of what all had happened.

After Carolyn settled down inside her basket cradle, Rakka returned to the balcony doors. The lights were closer…..almost to the edge of the woods. She watched with bated breath, her eyes followed their every move. The lights stopped jostling and started to spin…..as if in a frantic dance. She brought her face close to the glass and wiped away the fog her breath made on the surface. One light went out. Then…..

Her mouth dropped as multiples of small lights flashed repeatedly in different directions. Guns.

She swallowed a cold lump in her throat and watched…..a second light vanished…..the guns shot off in panic desperation. And then….the last light vanished. She held her breathe…..was it over? She started as light, orange and sparkling burst from the ground from farther beyond the lights. An explosion?

It shrunk into a faint glow now……she didn't know how long she watched before it died. Her eyes scanned for more lights, more signs for whatever was happening down there, but the darkness revealed nothing more to her. Maybe it was over…..

When she saw nothing more, she decided to shower. She went to the only working bathroom that she shared with everyone else down the hall. She stripped and turned on the water. Usually she would wait until the water was warm, but…..she just wanted to get the blood off. She sat in the tub and allowed the cold water from the shower head to strike her body.

Thoughts and worries raged within her mind. It was people with gun and flashlights. That explosion….where did that come from? A bomb maybe a grenade….yet why was it so far away from the people when it exploded. Why were there people with guns……….Riddick.

Was that it? It began to come together in her mind. Riddick's ship crashes….he threatens her and forces her to tell him if there was a shipping station nearby…..he lies about his name…..believes that Twenty-Two is a "dog-catcher"……steals her communicator…..and goes off to face people with guns. He was a fugitive on the run. And she believed that he was out there hiding three bodies.

* * *

The water had begun to run hot…..but Rakka still felt cold.

As she got out of the shower and fetched the small candle that gave her light, she noticed something in the bathroom mirror. On her back, just close enough to her side that she could notice it as she passed her reflection. She twisted her body so she could see it better. It was a grayish splotch.

She touched it with a finger and even rubbed it, but it remained there. It didn't even feel rough like a scab or a callous. It must be a bruise from when Riddick threw her to the ground earlier. Weird thing was….that it didn't hurt no matter how much pressure she put on it.

Her arm……there was more on her arm and her other arm too. The specks climbed up to her shoulders. When? When did she get these? They looked like bruises, but…..they didn't feel right. Even though the incident with Riddick could have caused brusing, but not like this. He didn't hurt her arms.

A thought went through her mind that numbed her ears. Reki has splotches…..her dead baby had splotches…….Rakka coughed and words came to her mind.

_"Coughing…one of the first signs."_

Rakka quickly wrapped a towel around herself and went to check Sami and her mother. She carefully checked the occupants in the room without awakening them. Sami had small dots along his thin arms and her mother had streaks of gray. Thankfully, Carolyn had nothing, but a pinkish birth mark on her arm.

Why didn't they notice these marks? Had they appear so gradually that they didn't notice at all….or wanted to notice? Like a woman may ignore a lump on her breast or an alcoholic would ignore his feverish fits? Hoping that time will make it go away?

Was what Riddick said was true? Have they been eating poison for months? Was it the poison that made Reki try to kill herself and her babies? The supply of rations had been torn open and scattered across the kitchen…..what happened? Sami may know, but she wasn't going to wake him up and make him relive it so soon.

She dressed herself in wool leggings, and a large knitted sleeping shirt whose arms were almost too long for her arms. The sleeves hid most of her hands, to the second knuckle of her fingers, which was alright…she didn't want to look at her arms anymore than she had to. The shirt hung to her thighs and had a deep pocket in the front right side of her belly. She pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail and pressed her forehead against the window.

She couldn't sleep. Who the hell could? She kept watching the window; looking for anything……A figure had emerged from the woods' edge. She almost missed him because of the blurring snow. She could recognize the cloak and the broad shoulders. As he neared the campus, she could see he carried something over his shoulder. It was a large bundle, but she couldn't see any details from where she stood.

He turned round the corner and was heading toward the gate. She dashed from the guest room to one of the abandoned rooms across the hall. She nearly tripped over debris and loose boards until she pressed against a window, using her sleeve to rub away the thick dust for a viewing window. Riddick was crossing the courtyard toward the Western building. She watched him disappear inside. She remained at the window, hesitating…….then she decided.

She headed back to the guest room for her boots and overcoat. She would need light…..shit! She forgot about the rations and lights she bought from the store earlier. They were probably ruined from being buried in the snow. Her bare foot treaded on something small and metallic. Riddick's lighter, the same one he used to sterilize his knife so he could cut Carolyn's birth cord. She picked it up and placed it in the pocket at her stomach.

Rakka checked on her charges one last time. Her mother was still sleeping and Sami was curled on her bench and Carolyn was sleeping peacefully. It was as if they were mocking the adrenaline pumping anxiety eating her.

She made her way downstairs and out into the assaulting snow. It clung to her hair, attacked her face and hands, and pulled at her coat. Her boots sank deeply into the whiteness, it topped her boots and fell inside to painfully assault her feet. She cursed herself for not wearing socks and pressed forward.

She practically leapt into the doorway and shoved it closed behind her. The darkness greeted her, but she took Riddick's lighter and flicked it on. The top cap lifted and a bright flame flipped upward bringing light.

She stepped forward and heard a smack. She looked down and saw wet puddles glistening in the flame. They tracked down the hall toward a set of stairs leading up to the second floor.

As she headed upstairs, he could see why Sami believed the school to be haunted. The stairs creaked at each step and she jumped each time the shadows moved. The loose hanging boards from the ceiling made twisted images from the lighter's flame and the threat of the roof collapsing made her feel as if pins were pricking her body.

She reached the top and she edged down the hall, with her ears listening for any footstep other than her own. A door was left open far down the hall; her eyes could just barely see it. The remnants of melted snow led to it.

"Riddick?" She called softly.

She looked inside the abandoned room. It was dirty and cluttered much like all the abandoned rooms in the school. In the far corner was a pile of dirty sheets and wooden boxes and on the other side was a doorway to a bathroom. A lone table stood before her and it was topped with a bag…..the same bag Riddick had been carrying.

"Riddick?" No answer. Before she realized what she was doing, she was at the table and was opening the bag. With one hand holding the lighter, she set each item side by side on the table. She found a two bottles of booze, old rolled up blankets, various knives and tools, a com (a much more expensive one than the one she received form Twenty-Two), electronic hand-cuffs, guns (which she handled very very carefully), containers of self-heating food, eating utensils, and finally….a picture UD card.

She stared hard at the face. It wasn't Riddick's face. The man had slicked blonde hair and he looked rough. Stubbles covered his jaws and heavy sideburns lined his face. The name on the card was Rufus Doela.

A soft growl…..no….it would sound like a growl with his voice. It was a hum of amusement.

She turned to see Riddick standing in the doorway, both hands placed on either side of the door…..blocking her escape? Blood still stained his arms and fresh blood was splashed across his chest and chin and specks of blood dotted his cloak. His goggles rested above his silvery eyes which were on her.

Her eyes stayed on the fresh blood. It wasn't his; he didn't have a scratch on him. "Riddick? I was looking for you."

"I'm not in the bag."

She set the card down and swallowed. Say something! "Reki is…"

"She's at the northern building tryin' to nurse the ghosted kids."

Rakka's face blanched. "Then….."

Riddick gave her a hard look. "Don't let her near Carolyn."

Rakka swallowed hard.

He left the doorway, approaching her. She backed away and her back hit the table, nearly jostling the table's contents. He loomed close; she could smell the blood on his body and feel his breath on her brow. She held the lighter close to her chest and leaned back away, her lips quivering not knowing what to say. He reached forward……..his hand glided past her arm and took up a knife. Her lips trembled and the lighter's flame flickered as her hands shook.

"Why are you here and not over there?" He stepped away, removed his clock, tossed it onto an overturned dresser which was alongside the wall, and entered the bathroom. His movement's made huge shadows slash the far wall from the lighter's flaming light.

She remained frozen on the spot. Her face flushed and her breathing deep. "I saw the lights. Out in the woods. I saw them from the balcony windows."  
Water started running. How he got the plumbing to work in this building, she would never know. She moved around the table and stood against the wall, the lighter's flame allowed her to see him standing at the sink rinsing the dried blood off his arms. "And I saw the guns firing…." She continued.

"Ya don't say…." He rubbed at the blood on his chin and neck. Drips of water ran down his sculpted forearms and dripped off his elbows.

"What happened?"

"Three unlucky bastards went huntin' at night…..in the dark." He toweled his hands on the rag at the side of the sink.

"And that explosion?"

"One of 'em had a detonator. Blew up their own ship." He removed his goggles and hung them on a wall hook. He then reached for a plastic container alongside of the rag. She watched him open it and smear the thick grease it contained onto his stubbly head.

"Before you could steal it……?"

He took up the knife. She stepped back, her heart skipping a beat. He glided it over his head. A rough scraping sound followed as he moved it over his scalp in a straight line. He shook the blade clean in the water and lifted it to shave another strip of stubs.

"Yeah, before I could steal it."  
She swallowed. She wanted to leave. She wanted to leave, go back to her room and just forget. Yet, she chose to cross the courtyard, she chose to come here and get answers. Nothing else, but to go through with it and she had to know what was going to happen to her….to her mother and the kids. It was her job to take care of them…then it all went to hell.

She opened her mouth to speak many times, but she would loose her nerve and shut it. Riddick finished shaving; he rinsed the rest of the grease from his head and then he then removed his shirt.

She looked at him….truly looked at him. His body……was a sculptor's vision. His muscles rippled underneath smooth skin. The broad field of his chest bared few scars, but they only enhanced his attraction. She took her eyes away, her face flush, now she knew she needed to leave. She'll talk with him tomorrow…in the light…..with his shirt on…..and when the com is working…..and it was no longer snowing and the way was clear to get to town….fast.

_I don't want to see him this way…this isn't right…_

She moved to leave.

"Aren't ya gonna ask me what they were huntin'?" He was filling the sink with cold water.

She stopped and closed her eyes. She painfully knew the answer. "You."

Riddick gathered his shirt and shoved it into the water.

"You killed them. The people in the woods."

Riddick picked up the knife.

She backed away. Her feet hit a fallen board and she tripped backwards, plunging into darkness. The lighter fell from her hands and skittered on the floor. She landed on the collection of sheets, puffing up dust, and making her choke.

She lunged forward with her hands searching for the lighter. Her heart beating so hard it hurt. She waited for the bite of the knife or the blow of a hand. She ran her hands over the floor; she touched dust, fallen boards, trash, and then…..something warm and metallic. She snatched it and fumbled with it and finally flicked the lighter on.

Riddick was leaning against the table, holding an open canister of food where steam was rising from its open top. He dipped a spoon into the canister and shook his head. "Skittish….very skittish." A grin was spread across his face and the knife he had used to shave with was resting on the table by his elbow.

She pushed herself to her feet almost falling again. She was still numb with terror from before. "How…? How were you able to know they were out there? I didn't see the lights until after you left." _How were you able to move around a dark room without even having to grope to find your way? How are you able to move within the darkness as if…you were one with it? _

"Eye shine job." He replied. He ate a spoonful and swallowed. "Got it done by a special kind of doctor."

"That sounds illegal."

"Anything goes in a slam."

The fright hurt so much; she thought she would go deaf. "They were mercs….bounty hunters." The light quivered between her hands. "The mercs were after you……because you escape from a slam?"

"Slamssssss." He insinuated the plural form.

"They were after you….right? After you?" Beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

An eyebrow raised on his face, the amusement dying from his face. "Anyone else they could be after?"

"No….no…..we are refugees from an upcoming war. You…..we….never know." She moved toward the door. "I'm going back now."  
"Don't feed Carolyn anything from the rations; else she'll end up like her brothers."

Rakka stopped. "Why do you say that the rations are poisonous? We've been eating them for weeks and we're….."

"Reki went psychotic and tried to ghost herself and her kids. You coughin' and faintin' and gettin' spots on your arms and back."

She froze, how did he know? "How do you know that they're not bruises? You attacked me this morning, remember?"

"Strip and I'll tell ya that they ain't bruises." He pushed away from the table.

She backed away. "Don't touch me…..stay away from me….."

"I've seen them before. In the slam, prisoners would be fed this….certain chemical. The first signs were like cold symptoms. Coughin', headaches, trouble sleepin', and faintin'. Then as they ate more of the drug, spots appeared on their bodies. Gray spots that turned black and into open sores. But that's ain't the worst of it." Riddick set aside the food canister, finished eating. "They went fuckin' insane. Everything they saw was a threat. Attacked anything from their bunkmates to the fuckin' toilet."

"Is that what happened to Reki?"

"Looks like it."

"But….if you say that I have the first signs of it….then why is she already insane?"

"Maybe cuz she was pregnant." Riddick paused and looked at her. "You know what else is bad about the drug."

Rakka didn't want to know.

"It's addictive."

She inhale and slowly exhaled slowly.

"You're in for a long haul. Vomiting, headaches, and fever."

"How….why would…..?"

"Why would guards feed prisoners poison and why would a government feed refugees poison too?"  
She nodded.

"Control."

"Control?"

"Control. It's easier to take control over 5,000 sick lunatics than 5,000 mad motherfuckers. Same way with your government. You're fed poison to keep you from joinin' the other side. Who knows, maybe they were hopin' the rations would circulate through the enemy forces."

"But the war hasn't even started yet."

"Just because the war hasn't started, don't mean there ain't any fightin' already going' on."

"If the rations are addictive…..then….that means Reki will….."

"You don't let her near Carolyn." Riddick said harshly. "You find me and get me. Use the com."

"You're going to be out repairing your ship."

"As soon as that junkheap is able to lift off, I'm offa this grass stain of a planet."  
"What if there is more mercs?"

"Then there'll be more dead bodies."

She shuddered. "Are we safe tonight?"

"Maybe."

She swallowed. "I'm going."

"Sure you don't wanna stay and let me teach you on how to sleep on your back?"

Her face turned red. She hurried through the door and headed toward the stairs. Riddick's mocking laughter echoed in her ears.


	7. No

She slept fitfully on the floor amongst towels and whatever blankets were available. How she could sleep after what had happened, she didn't know. She had nightmares. Nightmares of Riddick slicing open her stomach and removing a lead pipe from her organs. The same pipe from that time….

She awoke to the attention demanding wails of Carolyn. She groaned as she sat up, her head throbbing with pain.

"I'm coming." She groaned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. _Yeah, right. That 12 hour old baby really understands me. She's gonna wake Mom._

She left the guest room and walked into the room where Sami and her mother slept the horrible night away to find Carolyn screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Hush hush." Rakka croon softly as she lifted the infant into her arms. "Mom, she didn't wake you up did she?"

Her mother remained curled on the bed, unmoving.

"Mom…..Mom! Mama? Mama…..? Mommy……….?"

* * *

Rakka wore a veil over her face; it was silken and dark as was the Hitomian custom for when a loved one died. She would wear it all through the cremation, the way her mother wore it for when her father died two years ago. It was around that time when her mother became ill, as if pining away for her dead husband.

She stood in the frozen snow and watched the dying embers of her mother's coffin, one of the old boxes that were collecting dust in an abandoned dorm. She had prepared her mother's body and, in some miraculous way, carried the box and her mother downstairs and out onto a snowy hill for cremation.

She remembered back to when her father had died, to after the cremation.

_She had been 20 years old, attending her second year of college, when she was called her home. Her father had taken ill and the doctors had said that all they could do was say goodbye and let him die comfortably. He died comfortably in his sleep. _

_She had been crying after the funeral, hunched over her chair in the church's congregational hall. Her mother had rubbed her shoulder and said, "Rakka, my little pretty eye girl, don't cry. You father cannot go to the All Seeing with peace of mind if he's worried about you."_

_"I…know…"_

_"He just went before us…we'll see him again. We shouldn't be sad."_

But then…the next month her mother became ill. Rakka dropped out of college to take care of her, despite her mother's protests.

Now….she let her mother die. If she had paid more attention than just assuming her mother had been asleep…then….

_She was laying on her the bed, with her head on her mother's lap, no more than a week ago. Her mother brushed and stroked her hair. It was something they hadn't done since she left her girlhood…yet in her mother's eyes she was still a girl._

_"Rakka, honey, tell me, what's wrong?"_

_"Nothing's wrong, Mama."_

_"There's no need to say nothing when I see it in your rare eyes. You are our Blessed Child. Whatever ails you, ails me as well."_

She couldn't tell her mother they real reason they had to leave the city. She couldn't tell her mother of what she had done. It would have broken her mother's heart.

Was it the drugged rations or just simply Rakka's neglect that killed her? She would never know.

She stayed out in the snow…..till the sun was beginning to set. Cold eased past the numbing grief and urged her to turn away from the ashes. She removed the veil and back toward the campus.

That morning she had gone into hysterics, waking Sami and terrifying Carolyn. She had nearly dropped the baby into her basket and began to shake her mother's body trying to wake her. She was stopped when large hands grabbed her shoulders and yanked her away from the bed.

Riddick had shoved her to the other side of the room and checked the figure on the bed. A affirmed that the old woman was dead and had been dead for some time.

"I wasted a whole fuckin' day waitin' on ya to burn your mother."

That was Riddick's greeting for her when she entered the guest room. He was leaning beside the glass balcony doors, his goggles over his eyes. She ignored him and went to check on Carolyn. She was happily content in her homemade cradle.

"How's the little girl?" Rakka said softly giving her finger into the child's reflexive grasp.

Riddick emitted an irritated growl, which resounded like a snarl. "She's fine."

"How's Sami?"

"He's in his room."

Rakka moved to take Carolyn into her arms, her sleeves slip back. The splotches were darkening, they were almost blue.

"And Reki….?"

"The war started."

She jerked her gaze away from her arms. "It…did?"

"Announced it on the com." Riddick pushed himself away from the wall. "Got something I want to show you."

She wanted to ask him how he got it to work when she couldn't even pick up a signal last night….better not to know.

"What about Carolyn? Do we need to take her with us?"

"No, she'll be fine."

She also wanted to ask him how he knew this…..but she thought it better not to know. She rose and she followed him downstairs and out into the courtyard. While she struggled through the snow, he treaded easily through it as if he was wading through water. She stopped for a moment when she saw that he was leading her toward the building where they had…spoken last night.

She swallowed and continued after him, almost jogging to keep up. She followed him inside and unexpectedly he headed down the hall away from the stairs. It was dark and the only light was the dreary sunlight fading through the musty glass windows.

She followed him down the hall, treading carefully around ancient debris while Riddick coasted easily through the gray. He led her around the U of the building, toward the back where the windows were boarded up, and pitch black lined the hall.

She paused. Riddick pushed his goggles up to his forehead and continue onward. When she didn't follow, he turned and looked at her.

She stared back, her eyes revealing her concern. Why should she follow him into the darkness from which he thrived? He's a convict, a killer, and he had even…..not once, but twice attacked her……

_Yet both times, you were able to walk away. If he wanted to, he could have killed you easily._

"Ya comin'." It resounded more as a command than a request.

No, she didn't want to. She wanted to turn around and go back into the light. She feared and hated the darkness. The darkness splayed across his form, as if a mother embracing her son. He was almost just a face with two pin points of silver glinting at her.

"What do you want to show me?" She asked.

"Reki."

"Reki? She's here?"

"Yeah."

"Is she alright?"

"You can see for yourself. Let's go."

He swept back and the darkness completed its embrace of him and he was gone from her sight. She forced herself to take the final steps and emerge herself into the dark.

She scuffed her boots on various boards and broken furniture while she followed the sounds of Riddick's boots ahead of her. Her eyes slowly adjusted and she was able to make out his large frame. He stopped at an open door and let her catch up. She looked inside and gagged.

Reki……Reki's body lay in the middle of the floor. She was naked as she was the day her daughter was born. The stitches Riddick had used to sew her stomach together were crusted with blood and pus. But….what the true horror was lay beside her.

Two twin little bodies heaped together like two discarded dolls. Their skin was sickly pasty pale white. They had bites marks on their limbs and one's eyes were gorged out.

"She was eating them……she was eating their bodies….." She moaned.

She vomited. She leaned against the edge of the edge and puked. When she was through….she muttered, "I have to call Marchel."

"Who?"

"Her husband, the babies' father." She gasped. "He….has to know…..I….I'll use the com…."

"No."

"No?"

"No."  
"I….don't understand…."

"No, as in, no, you can't fuckin' use the com." He fixed his silvery gaze on her freezing her to the spot.

She felt drips of fear which she quailed with a deep breath. "Why can't I use the com?"

"So many reasons…..one of them being is that I don't _want _you to use the fuckin' com."

"You can't…."

"Can't what?" His voice was light, but….she could feel the icy threat lying beneath it.

The com was on the table in the guest room. He said that he used it to hear that the war had started.

She fled. She dashed through the door, away from Reki and her children's bodies and past the wanted man. She charged blindly through the dark hall, stumbling and catching herself on the wall. She broke through the doorway of the building and meshed herself through the snow. She kept expecting to hear the following footfalls of pursuit, yet no towering figure was behind her.

She burst through the door, not even bothering shutting it and locking it. As she clomped up the stairs thoughts whirled through her mind.

She would call the Protectorate, Haven's police force, and they would come for Riddick. They would go somewhere else and get the medical attention they needed. Maybe Riddick was lying about the rations. Maybe all they had received was bad rations that the government would have recalled.

She would have dashed into the room and snatched up the com and started dialing the channels. She would have gotten in contact with the authorities…..she would not have collided with Riddick, who was standing in the doorway, waiting for her.

She smashed into his broad frame and jumped back, shocked. He had both hands placed at the door's side, his thick arms blocking either side of him, like a barring Gate of Hell. He seemed to lean forward and gave her a smug looked.

She could see past him to the gaping balcony doors. She was further shocked. Within the two minutes it took her to cross buildings and get to this point, he had left the building, made it across campus without her seeing him, scale the balcony, and unlocked the doors (she and Reki kept the doors locked so as to prevent Sami from wondering out and hurting himself). The man did not have a bead of sweat on him, nor was his breathing quickened.

She steeled herself. "Riddick, I want to use the com to tell Marchel what had happened. He has the right to know what happened to his family."

"Okay." Riddick agreed. He tossed her a small black clump of plastic. It was the com smashed into bits. "There you go."

"I want the other one. The one you took off a body last night." She fought to keep from shouting, from hissing, from screaming at him. Her hands tighten around the ruined com.

Riddick has seemed to be prepared for her. He held up the com which had appeared to have been smashed by a booted foot.

"Damn you." She hissed. She straightened. "Then I'll go to town. I'm sure they'll have coms they'll allow me to use."

"No."

"No?"

"No."  
"Don't touch me! Get away from me! Let go!"


	8. Bathroom

She was upstairs in the bathroom. Not taking a piss, not bathing, but laying on the floor with cords around her ankles, wrists, and torso. He had knocked her out with a swift punch to the solar plexus and carried her to the bathroom and tied her there.

The kids were gone. He had called for a hover to come on the com before he smashed it. Sami left crying, wanting his mother and Carolyn was sleeping peacefully. The story of Rakka and Reki becoming lovers and running off with two baby boys was, surprisingly, accepted. The town doctor and his wife will take of them until the father…..forgot what his name was……sends for them.

That just left one more matter. He headed to the bathroom with a chair in tow. She was curled on the floor and she was awake and……..and very much afraid.

She tried to push her body away with her bonded legs when he approached. He nudged her onto her back with a boot and placed the chair atop her, with its legs on either side of her. He sat down and pressed chest again the back of the chair, staring down at her.

She looked away. "Wha….what are you going to do to me?"

"What do you want me to do to you?" He replied casually, leaning forward on the back legs of the chair.

She winced and tried to ease away, afraid that the chair would suddenly fall backwards onto her and smash her rib cage. "Why haven't you killed me? What do you want me for?"  
He clicked his tongue. Bitch was smart; he had to give her that. She wasn't blind with ignorance, stupid with naivety, nor the foolishness of innocence. Nor did she have the illusions of hope. She saw everything he did with those large, beautiful eyes. They were deep shades of purple with sparks of blue for pupils.

"I heard somethin' last night. It was very interestin'. Did you know….that there is a bounty bigger than mine out there." He watched her reaction. She licked her lips and swallowed. She always swallowed whenever she heard something that scared her.

"Me….I have a few mil on my neck, but…..there's one with 50 million and the dumb fuck only ghosted _one _person."

Her lips were quivering while her face turned pale. He leaned further forward, bending his knees, the chair creaked as it neared her ribs. His face came close to hers, only thing keep him from falling forward onto her was his legs support him. "You care to tell me how in hell you got 50 mil on your neck."

She cried. They always fucking cry. Carolyn cried and Jack cried. Through the tears, she told her story.

Months ago, she had been living in the City and caring for her sick mother. One afternoon, she had been out running errands and had stayed out till late. She had been walking home alone along a hover lane. No one else was on the lane, but she had foolishly kept going alone. Soon a hover, filled with drunk and stupid teenage boys, drove up and slowed down beside her. The boys leaned out the windows and catcalled at her and gave out unwanted invitations for her.

Naturally, she ignored them; hoping that they would give up and drive forward and leave her alone. Imagine her shock when they completely stopped the hover and got out. They had surrounded her, blocking her escape. The leader, a boy with slicked blonde hair and blue eyes, grabbed at her.

They had fallen together on the ground and while he struggled to rip open her blouse, she had managed to take hold of a lead pipe and impaled him on it.

The others saw this and fled. The sped off with the hover and left their friend to die. She had tried to stop the bleeding, but it was to no prevail. She too fled, shocked and terrified at her actions.

It wasn't until the late nights news started blaring that the Caretaker's, the political leader of the Green System, son had been found murdered on a hover highway, impaled on a lead pipe, that she realized how much trouble she was truly in. She had packed up her mother and whatever she dared take with her and left as refugees escaping from the impending war.

Before the Caretaker's son's death, there had been serious debates about the Caretaker's policy and the council's resolutions. While the Caretaker wanted to expand industrial development and technological advancement, he was met with strong rebuttal from the council and the population. When his son was found murdered however, he pitted the blame on rebels and used his son's death to create a crusade to destroy "those who would prevent the advancement of the Green System. His act as the grieving father won support amongst the heartthrobs of the citizens and allowances from the council. Before too long, he had taken control and it became war with the council.

To set an example of his might, the Caretaker placed a 50 million bounty on his son's murderer to be found and punished accordingly. The Caretaker got to his position, not by leadership, but by money.

The thought that she had started a war by her desperation of self-preservation turned the girl into a sobbing heap of tears.

Riddick got his answers and left.

* * *

The floor was cold, but it felt good against her hot skin. She didn't know when she started to get a fever. It crept over her…..like when some suddenly realize they have to use the restroom. Her throat hurt and her head was starting to throb.

She coughed, curling her body. She wrenched her wrists behind her back, trying to loosen the cords restraining them. Her efforts just made her wrists sore. Damn him…..damn him to hell.

She cried out with frustration. Never had she ever been restrained from movement. She had taken for granted the freedom of her limbs, to stretch, rub a sore or scratch an itch, or to at least move to make herself more comfortable.

What was he going to do with her? She had to be of some use to him if he was allowing her to live. Was he planning on collecting on her bounty? No, there was no way he could if there was already a bounty on his head too.

The bounty….she didn't know it was so high. She had left the City with her mother before things became extreme with the council. She was scared. So very scared. The bounty hunters in the woods were not after Riddick….it was her they were hunting. It chilled her to the bone knowing that others will come for her, bearing guns……

She panicked. She kicked her legs trying to twist out of the cords, but the cords at her wrist started to bit her skin. She wanted up, she wanted to stand, not lie helpless on the floor…..she became dizzy and closed her eyes. She fought the urge to vomit and she tried to quell the churning panic and terror.

Why did she walk down the lane alone? She should have run when the hover slowed down beside her. She should have screamed for help as soon as it stopped beside her. If only she could take it back…..just take it all back.

She would be home in the City now, there would be no war, and her mother may still be alive. Now she had a huge bounty, possibly the biggest bounty in the known universe, and the criminal with the second biggest bounty on his head (he probably rightly deserved the 50 million on his head though) has her tied up in the bathroom for him do with as he willed.

Her mouth was free, she could scream out…..but to whom could she cry out to who would care for her well being…….other than the mercs who intended to cash in on her bounty.

* * *

"What happened to Rufus's team?"

"Dunno, they didn't come back."

"Hadn't been any word."

"Think they was ghosted?"

"Hell, if I know."

"If they caught the slut, then we would he hearin' it now."

"Quit touchin' my ass, fuckup."

"It ain't me, Ruth!"

"It's somebody. And if the fucker touches me again, I'll….Oh, fuck! Andrew, wipe your feet before you stomp in here. I just swept."

"Fuck you and your fuckin' neat freakish ways. I got an announcement ta make!"

"Fuck you."

"No, fuck you."

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you!"

"FUCK YOU!"

**"FUCK YOU!"**

**"FUCK YOU!"**

**"DIE, MOTHER FUCKER!"**

"Well, I hope you're happy, Ruth. You just blew a hole in the hull. And your husband's still alive too, despite it all."

"Shut up, Lulu Bell."

"You are crazy, bitch. Jeez! That's gonna cost money."

"I want cookies."

"Jeezus, Dewey! You're always hungry, damn!"

"Hey, don't talk to him that way!"

"Shut it, Lulu, you faggot."

"Don't call me that, I'll…."

"Can I at LEAST talk about what I found out!"

"Fine! Talk, just talk!"

"There was word that the bounty slut got herself a bodyguard."

"So, she's got a bodyguard, big deal, she's a rebel leader. She killed the Caretaker's kid as strike against him or some radical shit like that."

"No, listen to the description. Big guy, bald, with black goggles. He was seen in town with her two days ago."

"Goggles……bald….Riddick. Richard B. fucking Riddick."

"Oh, god, I heard of him. He ghosted an entire team of guards when he escaped from Tangier slam five years ago."

"Don't forget all the shit he pulled when he busted out of Butcher's Bay. He even got the warden….what was his name……Hoxie killed."

"Oh shit, this is scary."

"Yeah, and if the bounty crank got him in her pocket…..ooooohhhhh, she's is truly the Green System's number one enemy."

"Why stop with the Green system…..she could move out and try to take on the Hellion system."

"Holy hell, there's no tellin' what diabolical thing she could be ordering him to do right at this moment."

* * *

"RIDDICK! Untie me so I can use the bathroom!"

She had held it as long as she could, but the pressure in her stomach would not be ignored.

It was a few moments…..she believed that he ignored her or perhaps didn't listen…..footsteps were heard and the door opened.

He stepped in with a knife in hand. She shirked away as he knelt beside her. He grabbed her shoulder and flipped her onto her stomach. His knife slit through the bonds at her wrists and torso. He stepped away and she pushed herself into a sitting position and rubbed feeling into her hands. He grasped her calf, startling her, and sliced the cords at her ankles.

He stood and said, "You have five minutes."

He stepped out and Rakka used the bathroom. She touched her face feeling how hot she felt. She bathed her face at the sink and saw……..his knife on the edge of the sink…..

The blade gleamed, as if smiling at her. She reached out to touch it…..no…..he's not stupid. He's not forgetful and he would NOT be so foolish.

Her hand hovered over it. Maybe…..just maybe…..he slipped up once…..he's not perfect……he's human like her……Her fingers grazed the handle.

A sound frightened her and she turned her head to see him standing in the open doorway. He watched her….he had those impenetrable goggles masking his eyes, but she knew….._she knew_…..he was watching her every move.

She stared at him….her eyes blearing with tears. She was scared….she wanted to pick up the knife, but was terrified to do so……he was so big and powerful. He killed three men, mercs with guns, in the woods with out a receiving a scratch.

She swallowed and lowered her hand and stepped away from the knife. She hated herself for her weakness more than the night she killed the Caretaker's son.

He crossed the small bathroom, taking up the knife as he passed. He grabbed her shoulder and pressed her bodily against the wall.

She whimpered….he was standing close behind her…..so close; she could feel his clothes brushing against hers. His breath stir strands of her hair and his hand was on her back between her shoulder blades, where the tips of his fingers touched the base of her neck, burned. Her face was pressed against the wall and it was forced to turn to the side. She could make out his shoulder from this awkward angle.

He smelled her…..his chest expanded and lightly touched her back and head…..beads of sweat gathered on her forehead and beaded down her neck. Her heart throbbed painfully in her chest and a small choke was forced through her throat.

It was going to happen. What she had killed to prevent was going to happen after all.

Flash and a thunk. She blinked her eyes and the knife was embedded in the wall an inch from her nose. She yelped, pushing away from the wall and backing into him. A thick arm folded across her chest, lowered to force her arms to her sides. The arm pinned her arms to her sides as she was pulled from the wall. She was held to his torso from behind…..just like that first night.

His other hand reached out for the knife……then she broke down. She sobbed, cried, and choked. Tears dripped off her cheeks and onto the floor while bits of hair clung to the salty wetness staining her face. She cried as a child in her bed in her room terrified of the darkness and the monsters it brings.

Then to her horror, he was kneeling with her onto the floor. She begged him not to hurt her, not to violate her, not to kill her, to leave her alone, to just leave her alone. He pushed her onto her stomach easily despite her struggles, grabbed her wrists, and pinned them behind her back. A cord was wrapped around them and the same was done to her ankles.

He stood and left, shutting the door behind him and taking the knife with him too. She curled into a ball on the floor shivering. Relief didn't come, instead dread. Because she knew that had dodged no bullet, she only dodged the inevitable for time being.


	9. Sickness

Her sides heaved with each dragging breath and her hurt to swallow. Her hair stuck to her sweaty face and it was hard to sleep.

She didn't know how long she's been in the bathroom. A day, two…..maybe three days. Riddick would come in regularly and give her a five minute bathroom break. There wasn't a repeat of that first day, but her heart leapt whenever the door opened. He would bring her a cup of some brew once a day and it tasted horrible, but her aching stomach would painfully demand substance if she didn't accept it.

Now, she wanted to vomit. Her arms ached and each time Riddick gave her a bathroom break, the splotches seemed darker. She remembered him telling her that the rations contained a narcotic drug. Was she having withdrawal symptoms?

The door open and dark boots walked inside. She whimpered as he roughly rolled her onto her stomach and sliced through cords at her wrists with a knife. He freed her ankles and stepped back.

She couldn't move. Her body ached too much and her head spun each time she tried to push herself up. Riddick knelt at her side and said, "Withdrawal's a bitch, ain't it?"

She was too nauseous to answer. She laid her head on the cool floor and whimpered as a wave of sickness rolled through her body. Her stomach lurched when Riddick's hands touch her sides and began to lift her.

She felt the vomit rise to her throat and Riddick slung her to the toilet, almost banging her head against the lid, but he was just in time. Her vomiting racked her body and she gagged up what little was in her belly.

When she finished, she rested her sweaty brow against the lid edge of the toilet, not even caring that Riddick was kneeling behind her and was pulling her into his grasp. He lifted her off the floor and carried her out of the bathroom. She was taken to Reki's bedroom and was nearly plopped onto the bed. She groaned as waves of nausea rolled through her head.

"Since you're too sick to stand, then you're too sick to be a pain in the ass." Riddick commented. "You can do what you want. Try to leave, I won't stop ya….but I don't think you can get down the stairs without falling and breakin' your neck."

She couldn't reply. She could only roll onto her side and slept.

* * *

Reki waddled into the room, her stomach still huge with carrying three babies. "Rakka, wake up. It's time for breakfast."

Rakka opened her eyes. She groaned as she sat up, but surprisingly the nagging nausea was gone. "Reki……why are you here?"

"I live here, silly." Reki laughed. "Come on, time to eat."

Reki held up a rotting corpse of an infant. Flies buzzes around the dried limbs and maggots wiggled within the baby's exposed gut. Rot dripped from the hanging organs from its ripped open belly.

Rakka sat up almost with a scream. She sat with covers tangled at her legs panting. Sweat beaded her face and her loose hair hung down her shoulders. She looked across the room and there was no Reki with a dissected baby.

She looked down at her body and realized that she was naked. She hadn't slept naked since…….A hand gripped her shoulder and she swung her head to see the boy, the boy she had impaled with a pipe, leaning up beside her. The pipe was still impeded in his torso and blood rushed from the tube's opening, sickeningly like a water facet, soaking the sheets and their bodies. He spoke with Riddick's voice.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Cold……so cold……it washed over her body……the sounds was loud, banging into her ears. She couldn't……

She coughed as she sat up in the tub, icy cold water from the showerhead poured over her body. Her skin felt freezing cold and she could not stop shivering.

She could faintly remember that she felt well enough to walk to the bathroom down the hall. She remembered stripping and getting into the shower…….and she felt weak suddenly and fell…..

Did she have a dream within a dream?

She turned off the water and managed to dress herself into one of Reki's old dresses. It was a bit big since Reki wore it when she was in her late months of pregnancy. The skirt hung down to the top of Rakka's boots and the sleeves were so long they almost hid her hands.

She checked her arms and the splotches had grown lighter. Maybe it was passing. How long has it been already? A week, maybe two? Oh……

Her stomach racked with hunger pains. Could she eat now without vomiting it back up…..it was worth a try. Maybe a little wouldn't hurt.

She managed to get the doorway when a wave of nausea rolled. Her head screamed with agony and she slid down the wall. She propped herself against the wall, her legs tangled in her skirt, waiting for the sickness to pass. Her wet hair hung down her back in a dark tangled mass. From behind she looked like a broken and tossed out doll.

She may have passed out for a few moments, or maybe Riddick had supernatural abilities that enabled to him to move from being heard.

"You look like a weak….I want to say newborn kitten, but you have a rabbit look in your eyes whenever you're scared."

She turned her head, ignoring her protesting headache, and Riddick was standing over her, leaning against the doorframe. His face, arms, and clothes were smeared with dirt and grease which was usual since he started repairing his crashed ship.

She wanted to retort, she wanted to snap something, she even wanted to say 'fuck you', but all she could make out was a weak whine. It sounded sickeningly like a kitten's mew.

He chuckled and left her on her floor. He walked to the shower and turned on the water. She turned her head back to the wall, too delirious to reason at that moment, until…..

"You used up all the hot water."

She inhaled deeply and managed to croak, "Too bad I didn't break my neck when I fainted in the shower."

"It could still happen." came the hard reply.

She swallowed back bile and swore she was not going to vomit in front of him.

"I'm taking a shower. You're more than welcome to come with….."

She gritted her teeth. She gripped the doorframe and pulled herself to stand. Her arms couldn't hold up her weight and she plopped back onto the floor. She sat against the wall and saw that Riddick had already removed his shirt and had tossed aside onto the floor. His hands were at the front of his pants.

"Still here?" He turned his head and regarded her from behind his black goggles.

He undid his belt.

Rakka felt hot tears of anger welled in her eyes as she pushed herself onto her hands and knees and crawled out of the bathroom. It would have enraged her more to know that from Riddick's view that she looked liked a scraggly kitten struggling with its first upright steps. She collapsed onto her stomach in the hall and the door shut behind her. She heard the click of the light switch being turned off and the water still running.

_Get up. Just get up. God, why did that happen? Why why why why why? Why did I crawl out of there like dog? He's laughing. I don't need to hear him to know he's laughing at me. _

_I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him…god, his body…I hate him…I hate him…I wished he had died in the crash, I wish the stupid mercs had shot him. I hate him I hate him._

She passed out after she curled herself in a ball of hatred. When Riddick was done with his shower and had dressed. He exited the bathroom and stepped over the unconscious girl's body and went to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

* * *

She woke up. She side ached from lying on the hard floor. She felt strong enough to get to her feet and dazedly make her way to the kitchen. She was surprise at how well she felt after the nauseating sickness that had ate at her in the bathroom. She didn't bother on turning on the light. She could depend on the moonlight from the glass doors and the light from the hallway.

She sat at the table with a food canister and spoon in hand. She pulled on the thing cord at the bottom. The canister whirred and clicked and soon hot steam was rising from the top. She carefully pried off the lid and let the sweet aroma greet her nose.

She gobbled it down, not caring that the broth was streaming down her chin and dripping onto her front. She threw away the canister and wiped of her mouth and scrubbed at her front with a damp cloth.

She felt better. She even felt good. She went to the window and was surprise to see it was night already. Or had she been on the floor for days? She stared outside enjoying now feeling sick and……

Lights. Lights like the night that Reki had tried to kill herself and her unborn children. Her good feeling turned cold as ice in her veins.

Mercs. Mercs. Mercs, here! Oh god, oh god!

They were here for her. Riddick….god, she hated him….Was he going to protect…..forget it. No way. No way in hell.

She grabbed a knife from the kitchen. It….it was the same knife she had hidden under her pillow that night Riddick stormed into her life and the knife that Reki had used to cut open her belly. _Oh, please….don't tell me that something huge and bad was going to happen on the third try around._

"Gonna to cut something?"

She spun to see Riddick standing in the doorway. His huge frame almost blocked the light from the door way. His goggles rested above his eyes and his silvery eyes simply glowed. He stood in darkness with devilish splashes of orange while she stood against the glass doors which emitted an almost angelic glow about her small frame.

"Riddick…..there are…."

"There are four of them. A woman and three men. Two of them are married and the other two are fuckin' each other."

"How long have you known they were….."

"Three weeks ago."

"Three weeks….I've been sick for three weeks?"

"Time flies when you're pukin' your guts into a toilet."

"What are you…."  
"Come here."

"No…."

"You don't want me to come over there and get you…."  
She raised the knife.

A flash, fasting than her eyes could follow and Riddick held a curved blade in his hand.

She backed away. She had both hands on the knife handle and she held it close to her chest. "Riddick….don't…."

"Don't what?"

"Just don't…."

"Don't what? You raised your shiv first."

She was no match in a knife fight with, hell, she couldn't even smolder a piece of coal compared to his knifing skills. She was trembling, her back pressed against the cold glass. Tears began to stream down from her terror filled eyes.

"Come here."

"No….What are you going to do?"

"I need a distraction. They're not here for me. They're here for you."

"Riddick….." She began to pant, her heart pounding within her chest. "No. I….I…please, don't….Riddick……help me…."

"I'd rather you help me."

Riddick in front of her and mercs behind her and a sickness within her. She held the point of the knife to her throat. "I….I'll kill myself before you….use me….before they get me…."

Riddick exhaled a breath. "Bitch….you know and I know you ain't got the guts."  
"I'll do it." She affirmed. She dug the blade into her throat.

"Go ahead."

"A…."

"Go ahead. Do it. Do it."

"Aa…."

"Need help?"

He started forward. The clomping of his boots across the floor sent shocks of ice through her body. The message to thrust the knife into her throat was sent from her brain to her arms. The muscles tighten and jerked to drive the knife upward. She was move….

_Do it….do it….I can't, I'll die. That's the whole point….but I don't want to die..._

She slashed outward with the knife with both hands, hoping to catch him by surprise. Riddick caught her hands bearing the blade in one hand. He squeezed the feeling from her hands till she dropped the knife with a painful whine. Before she could kick him, he flung her bodily across the table.

She landed face down on the table, the breath being knocked out from her lungs. A rough hand gripped her arm and yanked her over onto her back, nearly tearing her arm from her socket. The breath was nearly knocked out of her again as she was rocked back onto the hard wood.

Riddick leaned over her. His large frame blocked out all light and it was as if darkness was hovering above her and two glowing orbs gazed down at her. God, he was huge. His body could easily hide hers. His rough hand pinned her hands above her head easily, as one would restrain a kitten. His other hand was balled into a fist and it supported his weight on the table.

One of his thighs pressed almost painfully against her pelvis and it reminded her of what he could very well easily do….what he had offered her since they met.

_If you want to stay, then…_

_Sure you don't wanna stay and let me teach you on how to sleep on your back _

_I'm taking a shower. You're more than welcome to come with…_

He leaned closer to her. Her heaving breasts touched his chest at each intake of breath. Warm breath was on her face and their noses touch.

She spat. The spittle collided with his cheek. She swore she saw a stunned look flash through his eyes, then sheer amusement. He leaned back and threw his head back and laughed with the spittle still clinging to his cheek.

Then there was pain in Rakka's solar plexus and she was unconscious.


	10. GoodBye

Cold. It was so cold.

She coughed and opened her eyes. Snow was everywhere before her and on top of her. She wanted to move her arms, but…..they were restrained from behind. She shifted her body as she took in her surroundings.

She was in the courtyard of the school. And she was tied to the old fashion water pump in the center. She didn't know how long she was out. At least her legs were free and she could move into a more comfortable position.

She manager to shake the snow from her skirt, but snow had crumpled into her boots, freezing her ankles.

"Riddick?" She called. "Riddick!"  
"I hear something!"

Rakka froze when rays of light appeared from the gate of the school. The mercs….Riddick had tied her up as bait and while the mercs collected her, he was leaving.

Good bye.

* * *

A figure dashed through the snow eastward. As it transverse up a hill, it paused and glanced back toward the campus.

Riddick could easily make out the mercs entering the courtyard where they were sure to find the bait left behind for them. While they collected her, he was going to make off with their ship. He had managed some repairs on the old, but it wasn't strong enough to break the orbit of the planet.

He gave a small thought toward the woman with the exotic eyes and continue forward toward the merc's ship.

* * *

"Well, well, well, I guess Mister Richard B. Riddick got tired of takin' orders, eh?"

There was four of them. One woman and three men. The woman was wearing a long sleeve sweater with gun holsters crisscrossed over her chest and baggy camouflage pants and combat boots. Her brownish blonde hair was snatched back into a ponytail and she glared at her with green eyes.

One of the men beside her was young. He had long dark hair to his shoulders and he was wearing light armor and dark pants. He had leering grin aimed for her.

The next man was small. He was thin and his clothes……here feminine and his hair was pulled back into a long waist length braid. And to her shock she saw that he was wearing make up! Lipstick, eye shadow, eye liner, and even blush.

_Two's married and the other two are fuckin' each other._

_He's gay! He's one of those gay men that dress like women. A drag queen, is that what they are called?_

The last one was fat. Fat as in she did not know how his small legs could support his massive size. Fat spilled over his pants and strained his clothes. He was also perspiring; sweat ran down his fat face. It was as if breathing and standing was a strain on him.

"Unite her, Andrew." The woman commanded.

The man with the dark hair did so, cutting the cords at her wrists. He roughly grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet.

"Lu Lu Bell, verify her information." The woman commanded.

The man wearing makeup approached her and took a small compact computer from his belt. He flipped it open and Rakka could see light dance across his face as the small system's images moved on the screen.

"It's her."

"Good. Andrew, put some cuffs on her and let's move back to the ship."

Andrew unhooked a pair of cuffs from his belt. "Don't worry, sweetheart, I won't hurt you…..unless you want me to."

Rakka didn't know how it happened, but it did happen. The ease that seemed to be among them vanished. In it's place was tension. She saw them stiffen as if prepared for battle.

"What the fuck was that suppose to mean, fuck up?" The woman glared at the man.

"Nothin', it meant nothin', Ruth." Andrew snapped. His grip tightened on Rakka's arm almost making her wince.

"It must have meant somethin' if you said it." Ruth snarled.

"Why the hell you gotta be a bitch whenever I'm around another woman!"

"Because you fuck every other woman, but me!"

"Because you can't fuck worth a damn!"

"It ain't my fault; you're a one minute shooter."

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you."

"Let's not do this now." Lu Lu Bell stepped forward, trying to make peace.

"Why the hell are you defendin' him? He's a half-ass!" Ruth nearly shouted. "He half-asses everything he does! He half-ass fixed the ship!"  
"I fixed the damn ship!"

"TAPING A SHEET OF PAPER OVER THE HOLE DOES NOT FIX IT!"  
"Guys, I…don't feel so good." A fat man spoke up for the first time. He swayed on his legs. And Snow billowed up in a cloud of white.

"OH MY GOD! HE'S DEAD!"

"Shut up, Lu Lu Bell, it's just one of his episodes!"

"Get his medicine!"

The grip was gone from her arm. Instinct took over her body and she ran.

"SHE'S GETTING AWAY!"

A blast sounded behind her as she rounded the gate.

GODDAMMIT, RUTH! SHE'S GETTING AWAY!"

"GOOD! NOW YOU CAN'T FUCK HER!"

"YOU FUCKIN' SHOT ME IN THE LEG!"

"I'LL SHOOT YOU IN THE FUCKIN' BALLS IF I SEE YOU WITH ANOTHER WOMAN!"

* * *

Riddick had managed to unlock the sliding doors and was inside when he notice the damage in the hull. It was a large hole, possibly done by an energy gun. It was covered with a large sheet of paper taped over it. It had a sign written on it. BITCH MUST DIE

Riddick cursed under his breath and left the ship. Couldn't leave the planet after all, but he still had a backup plan.

* * *

She scrambled, stumbled, and fought her way through the snow and low hanging branches. The branches snatched at her hair and scratched her face. even making small tears in her clothes.

She didn't know which way she was going, but she knew she had to flee. Keep running, keep running. Run away from the mercs, Reki's body, the boy impaled on a pipe, the half eaten babies, her sickness, and……Riddick.

Her legs collapse beneath her and she fell face down into the snow. She wanted to sleep, sleep and forget. Then she noted the light.

She looked up to see dim glowing light ahead of the darkness. She crawled, scrambled through the snow and saw…..a wrecked ship.

It could only be the ship that Riddick had come in when he crashed into her life. She managed to get to her feet. It was gapped at the back and inside she could see the pilot's seat and various items within the ship's interior.

She went inside. Why? She didn't know. It was warmer than being out in the snow.

She heard a sound behind her and she turned to see Riddick standing at the opening of the ship. He was staring at her with those damn silvery eyes.

"I'll be damned." He murmured.

She backed away, her heart pounding. As Riddick walked up the dock she backed up between the pilots' seats and was pressed against the controls console. Her hand rested on a screwdriver. Her fingers wrapped around the handle.

He approached her, his eyes boring into hers.

_Could she do it? _

He ripped off the cloak and tossed it aside onto one of the passenger seats that lined the narrow way.

_Would she be able to take him by surprise and kill him? She killed one man already…by unlucky accident. It won't be like before in the bathroom, with the knife._

She swung her hand bearing the screwdriver to slash at his face. Her wrist was caught as easily as if she was tossing a ball to him. She struggled and swung with her other hand, he caught it and pinned it to her chest. He leaned forward and said, "Too predictable, too readable, too slow, too hesitant, and much too skittish. You don't stand a chance in hell against me."

"Let go!" She nearly shouted. Riddick was simply the more skill fighter than she could ever be.

He twisted her wrist until she dropped the screwdriver and he forced her with him. He shoved her to the floor and easily pinned her wrists behind her back. She cursed and struggled against his hands until he stood and her arms were almost painfully restrained with a pair of cuffs. The same cuffs she found in his bag that fateful night.

Riddick seated himself in the pilot's seat and buckled the safety straps across his chest. She watched him adjust some controls and the hatch behind was closing.

"Where are we going?" She demanded. Despite her pounding heart, she felt she had nothing to loose. So what if she couldn't fight him? So what if she had only manage to escape by the skin of her teeth from mercs? So what if she was in cuffs? So what if Riddick was taking her somewhere she didn't know? If she couldn't hurt him….she was going to bitch at him as much as he would allow.

"You'll see when we get there." He replied. He was making commands on the console and she felt and heard the engines powering up.

She swallowed, she wasn't use to flying. Only small hovers and the hove train in the subway station when she traveled between her old job and home. The only time she went any higher than hovers could was when her mother and she rode the transport to the town. Even then, she refused to sit by a window and tried to sleep through the whole experience with sleeping pills.

She managed to get herself in a sitting position. "I want to know where we are going…._now._"

Riddick had been glancing at a monitor with signatures that might as well have been a different language to Rakka, when he turned in his seat to look at her. His silver eyes met her blue-violet eyes. "Keep it up, Rak…Ka.. Keep it up. You don't want to get out of this seat because of you."

He then returned his attention to the monitor. Before she could think of something else to say, the ship lifted off the ground. She yelped and her cuffed hands struggled to reach for something sturdy behind her.

She refused to look out the front view window. She refused to see the top branchs rise and fall from view. She didn't want to see how fast they were going or high they were. Her stomach….her stomach was doing rolls during the ascent. Then slowly, but gradually she relaxed as she got use to the elevation.

"Aren't you going to ask how I got away?" She asked.

"I know you didn't knock 'em out or kill 'em. Too skittish for that."

"One of them flirted with me and his wife got mad. Then the fat one had a stroke, I guess. He fainted, took their attention away from me. I ran."

"And found me."

"I wasn't looking for you." She snapped. "I was just running. You're the last person I would go to for help."

"You're right on that." He set the ship on auto-pilot. He leaned back in his seat and stretched his long legs up and out onto the dash of the console.

"Are you going to leave me tied up from now on? Are you going to collect on my bounty?" She asked.

"How? I got a bounty on my head too."

She had to agree with that. "Riddick, why don't you kill me? Why tie me up? Wouldn't it just be easier to just slit my throat and throw my body off the ship before take off? You used me to keep the mercs of your back, but now…."

Riddick had form a steeple with his fingers before his chin, thinking. "I'll find some use for you…"

"To fuck?" She inquired. "That's what you've wanted to do. I know. You give me hints, offers, and…and even tried to….what you did before you tied me to the pump. G…." She swallowed. What did she have to loose? What in the world could she loose now….? What? Parents dead, alone, huge bounty, people who want her dead or in a slam, he was going to kill her eventually. She was a liability.

She closed her eyes. "Go ahead."

"Go ahead….?"

"Go ahead."

He turned in his seat to face her; his silver eyes seemed to flash in the darkness. He raised an eyebrow.

"What's to stop you?" She asked, her throat suddenly dry. "I'm tied, we're off the ground. I scream and no one will come to stop you. You could easily kill me and throw my body off the ship when you're…done."

He moved sleekly out of his seat. She felt her heart leap when he took to three steps to her side. He hooked her knees with one booted foot and slid her body away from the wall and onto the floor where….there was more room.

He looked down at her body and she looked up at his. She swallowed, feeling beads of sweat gather on her back and forehead. She studied his face. His head wasn't exactly bald, it was covered with a fine fuzz and his eyebrows were dark, not too thin and not too thick. His lips were full, but were set in a grim line. His goggles covered his eyes, but she was certain that the silver globes were appraising her body.

She in turn appraised his. He was as she first saw him, but she then she had look at him as a threat, not she looked at him as a….potential…..not a lover, more like a sex partner. He was still large, much larger than her. He was all muscle, no fat, no unnecessary body bulk, just lean muscle straining against caramel color skin. His black shirt strained against a broad chest and shoulders and black pants covered leg, which were not thin, but not thick.

He knelt, one knee beside hers and a hand touched the bangs at her brow and trailed over her face, her throat, and (she inhaled a deep breath) her chest. It continued down her stomach and just barely, applying enough pressure to tickle her ribs. She tense as the hand glided down her pelvis and down her thighs. She expected him to slip it underneath her skirt, but he slid over her shins to the top of her boots.

He spoke in a voice that would have sounded silky if anyone else was saying it, but for him it resounded as a purr, "Been a long time since I touched beautiful."

She felt heat bellow from her chest and to her belly. She felt heat rise to her face and arousal set him. He stood and walked to the back of the ship and grabbed something. It was a rolled up blanket. He shook it out with one hand and let it fall onto the small space beside Rakka. He knelt and moved her onto the blanket.

With her back to him, he undid the cuffs, but before he did so, he squeezed her wrist. A small silent warning, meaning if she tried anything he didn't like, she was going to be hurt.

Before she could give him thanks for removing the cuffs and before she could rub the feeling into her hands, her shoulder was seized and she was yank back. Riddick crushed his mouth against hers, his tongue lapping her lips. She didn't have time to react or respond before he withdrew.

They stared at each other. Riddick knelt behind her and her sitting with her legs to the side, half turned toward him. Riddick licked the side of his upper lip, his goggled eyes on her face.

She wished that she could see his eyes, see what wanted. Then….he was testing her, seeing if she was willing to through with it. Just like the knife in the bathroom. She had failed that test and….

Her eyes rested at the shallow dip at the front base of his throat, where his collar bones met. She leaned forward and tentatively licked that dip, tasting salt and him. She inhaled his scent. It was of sweat, forest, and something else. Something that made her stomach rolled with lust.

Riddick emitted a soft, vibrating, growl, sliding a hand up her back to press the single seal that held her dress up. It released and the front slipped off her shoulder, she shifted and the front fell to her lap.

Riddick cupped her shoulders with his hands and pulled her up and onto his lap. He had positioned himself into one of the small passenger seats and positioned Rakka so she was sitting astride his lap. His face burrowed into her chest, above her bra covered breasts and she felt lips, tongue, and teeth knead and nip her skin. It sent shocks down her spine and arms. She curled her arms about Riddick's shoulders and her hands touched his almost bare head and urged him to continue.

His tongue trailed up her throat and up her chin and slipped into her mouth. This time she was ready. She accepted his tongue and fluttered hers beneath his. Their lips parted, but their tongue stroked each other between their open mouths. He tasted…..good. In what, she couldn't describe, he didn't have bad breath, but it wasn't minty as if he just had a breath mint.

She found her hands seeking his flesh that lay beneath the fabric of his shirt. Her hands slipped under and touched the skin beneath. He complied and lifted to shirt over his head and it was tossed to the floor. She leaned back and devoured his body with her eyes. It….it was perfection. Any sculptor would be proud to have created a statue with this build.

She found herself leaning forward and her lips and tongue began stroking his chest. He was warm to her mouth and he tasted of sweat. His callous hands rested on her shoulders allowing her to have her way with him….for now.

She sucked here and there and even…..while holding her breath, she nipped him. She turned her attention to his right nipple. She placed her mouth around the nub and her tongue attacked it. Lashing it, stroking, and rubbing and she heard and felt Riddick exhale a soft breath.

His hands moved to her bra and when she leaned back to breath, it fell from her chest to rest between them. It soon found its way onto the floor.

Heat rose to her face and chest. Her heart beat behind her bare breast. This…in her mind….was the midway point. Any further and there was no stopping. She inhaled deeply, she…didn't want to stop. Keep going, she wanted him, she wanted him ever since…..that night, the night that Carolyn was born, when the first mercs met their end, and she saw him with a shirt after he shaved.

Riddick lifted her and himself from the seat and placed her onto the floor atop of the forgotten blanket. He pinned her as if she was resisting him, one hand holding her left arm to floor and the other had a handful of her hair near her scalp forcing her to look to the right. She swallowed as he lower his head to her throat.

He sucked at the skin little, teeth leaving faint red marks, and then he nipped her chin. He turned his attention to her right breast and she gasped at the sweet sensation of having her nipple sucked and nipped. Whenever she pleased herself in the bathtub or the shower she would twist or pinch her nipples….but it almost doesn't compare when someone else does it for real.

He turned his attention to the other, drawing her nipple between his lips with his tongue and it emitted a soft slurp. He hand slip off her arm and she felt thick callous fingers reach into her skirt at her belly. They hooked both her panties and her half-worn dress and pushed them down her hips and thighs. He shifted aside enough for her to lift her legs so he could completely remove the rest of her clothes. All that remained was her boots.

Riddick lifted off her enough to appraise her nude body from behind his dark goggles. His hand released her hand allowing her to lean back on her elbows, her chest heaving, waiting for what he would do next.

His hand cupped a breast and he said, "Been a long time since I fucked."

"How long?" She asked.

Calloused finger and thumb rubbed her nipple. "Almost three years. Been in a slam, then on a dead planet, and then on an ice berg planet."

"This….is my first time." She blurted.

"You gotta be fuckin' kidding." Riddick took his hand from her breast and rested on her hip and squeezed it. "What? You wrapped a fuckin' chain and lock around your thighs or somethin'."

"I'm….not 100 percent virgin. I've just never gone this far with anyone before."

His hand dripped between her thighs and she almost jumped off the floor when two rough fingers entered her rudely. She winced at the rough intrusion before allowing herself to enjoy the sensation and know…..knowing that there was better to come.

Riddick used his free hand to push her thighs apart for a better view. His thumb teased her clitoris while his fingers moved in and out of her. Rakka moaned softly. She had done this to herself, but….to have someone else do it is truly exquisite.

It ended too soon for her, for that Riddick removed his fingers from her body and brought them to her lips. She lapped at them, but kept her eyes on Riddick's face, and tasted herself.

She felt like a different person. She couldn't understand it. Less than an hour ago, she would have given anything to gorge out Riddick's silver eyes with a screwdriver, and now she was licking her fluids from his fingers like a dog and it _thrilled_ her.

He cupped the back of her knee and spun her toward him. He parted her thighs with one hand and the other was undoing his pants. She licked her lips feeling almost nervous.

His erection sprang free as he lowered his pants just enough to free it. It was big. Rakka hadn't had any real life experience, but she had seen enough porn in her teen years to know that Riddick was very impressive. A small thrill of fear ran through her for that he was much bigger than the assorted toys Rakka had used on herself before. He pulled her close and he leaned down, his face close to hers. His nostrils flared as he scented her. He guided himself to her opening with one hand and he entered her hard.

A short breathy 'uh' escaped her lips. It hurt, and was uncomfortable, but it was strangely very, very pleasant and she felt filled. She shifted her hips to alleviate some of the discomfort and he began to thrust in and out.

The first few thrusts were uncomfortable and almost painful for her, but slowly it melded into something sweet. She braced her booted feet against the floor and her body met his at each thrust.

He leaned up from her a moment to cup the back of her knees with both hands and lift up her legs, looping them over his upper arms. He stroked forward and her eyes widen at much further he could penetrate her in this position.

She bent her knees back almost to her shoulders, the heels of her boots occasionally hitting his back. He leaned over her, hands supporting his weight on either side of her head. She dug her fingers into his upper arms as an orgasm ripped through her. He thrust become more urgent and harder. The small ship filled with the sounds of Rakka's breathless cries and Riddick's concentrated growls.

Riddick grabbed her thighs and was jamming himself into her body. She climaxed before he did and she was pounded until he shortly after reached his.

She panted, while sweat rolled down her sides. Their bodies still linked, Riddick leaned over and licked her lips. Her tongue flicked out to meet his and she tried to draw him closer, but he then withdrew from her body and cleaned himself on the blanket. He zipped up his pants and took up his shirt.

Rakka watched him dress feeling that she should too, but….she was sleepy and her body was lethargic. She wanted to sleep for an hour and she wanted Riddick to curl beside her and sleep with her. She suddenly felt alone and she didn't want that.

Where the words came from, she would never know. As they formed inside her mind, a small voice said, _"no, don't, that is going to fuck up everything!"_

It was ignored and she said, "I love you, Riddick."

Everything that was going well between them was thrown out the window.

Riddick faced her and lifted his goggles to his brow and gave her hard look. "What?"

"I didn't mean it that way." She blurted. "I mean to say I loved it. The sex. The sex, not you. I love the sex, you are a great…..sex partner, Riddick. Sex partner, not lover, sex partner."


	11. Sold

She perched on the edge of the bed staring at her bare feet. How did this happen? How?

After she and Riddick…had sex…..he had let her remain unrestrained while they returned to…The City. She had tried to make Riddick see why they couldn't go there. Why she couldn't go back.

He merely stated. "This heap ain't got enough power to break orbit. I need a ship that can."

"I don't know how much ships cost, but I _do _that they cost a lot more than what we have." She reasoned.

"Oh, it won't cost me anything."

She had stared at him. "You are not….."

"Not what?" He turned and looked at her.

"Never mind."

They had landed the ship at a docking garage where to her surprise Riddick sold it as spare parts. They had used the money for hove train fare and to her horror Riddick took her to the Lower part of the city.

This was the part of the city she had never nor had she ever intended to visit. This was an area that a woman dared not go alone. Better yet, not go to at all. Everything and anything happened in these slums. Gangs, mafia, druglords, prostitution, and even slavery.

Riddick put his cloak on her shoulders and pulled it up to hood her face. He guided her down eroded streets with his hand firmly on the back of her neck. Not to prevent her from escape, for that she dare not leave his side in this area of the world, but to send a message to any that would challenge him for her. _This is my bitch and I would rather break her neck than hand her over to anyone else. _

Many times when she dared looked up, she could see them. Men staring at her with interest, and some even were leaning forward to try and get a peek at her face. See if maybe, just maybe, she was worth challenging the formidable man beside her.

A man had catcalled at her and she heard boots clapping against the gravel approaching them. Her heart stopped and so did Riddick. He halted her, his fingers almost bruising her skin, as if keeping her from fleeing like a rabbit.

"The bitch may look nice, but she ain't worth dyin' for." Riddick said in a voice so full of menace and violence that it froze the blood in her veins. She didn't need to see to know that his other hand was near his hip where he kept his knife.

There was a pause from the men that had been approaching. "It's cool, it's cool. We wah jess crossin'. Jes crossin'."

The person who spoke was the same who had catcalled at her. He sounded very nerv….not nervous, scared. She was glad that she couldn't see Riddick's face, she'd be more scared than the man because she was stuck with Riddick and there was no possible escape in sight. They continued without further incident.

They finally arrived at a hotel, the one where you could hear women, children, and babies crying through the walls, and arguing voices and stomping feet from the ceiling. As soon as she was able she showered, to wash whatever filth she may have picked up from the streets. And to wash the sweat she still felt from when she and Riddick had….

Why was it so hard to think about it? It had beennice, better than nice in fact. Yet….she felt as if she had let herself down, that she had given in to him somehow. At least he's not having her handcuffed or tied up anymore.

The room had one bedroom with a small kitchen (which contained a small freezer and a heating unit) and a bathroom only big enough for a shower, toilet, and sink. The floors were bare and dirty. The shower looked as if it had never been touched with a cleaning solution or a scrub before. She placed what she had hoped to be a clean towel on the shower floor to keep from getting a disease from the scum layering the floor of the shower.

She wrapped a large towel around herself and perched herself on the edge of the bed. What now? Where was Riddick now?

He had left saying that he would be back later with something to eat. He had been gone now for over three hours. Maybe he was killed? Sure he was tough, but surely he was mortal as was she. He could be shot by a gun; he could be stabbed from behind, or hit by a hover. Somehow, if any of those things happen, she could imagine he would be back, blood stained and all. And he would be shrugging it off as if he just took a spill off the first stair step or stubbed his toe.

Her skin had dried over time and so had her hair. She wished she had a hair brush; her hair must look like a bird's nest. There wasn't even a mirror in the bathroom. The sink was just deep enough to wash hands and maybe bathe a baby….baby…..BABY!

Oh god! Oh god! She and Riddick…..oh god!"

She put her hands over her belly, her eyes wide. Things were bad now, but there was no need to make it worse by her getting pregnant.

She thought back to her last period. She had always been irregular when it came to her periods. She would have three periods in three months, but then it would be six months before her next one. When she was a teenager and her mother notice her lack of periods, she took Rakka to a doctor and he told her that it was normal. As long as Rakka had 4 periods a year, it was fine. Some women had them regular like clock work and others didn't. It just meant that Rakka would have a hard time getting pregnant naturally.

So far, fate hadn't really been on her side.

The door opened and Riddick entered carrying a bag and case of food canisters. She stepped out of the bathroom and approached him. She ignored the fact that she wore nothing more than a towel around her. He shut the door behind her and gave her his attention from behind his black goggles.

"Riddick, did you get a pregnancy tester?"

"No, you didn't ask for one." Riddick returned easily as if she asked if he had gotten cleaning detergent along with the groceries. He set the bag on the small counter against the wall. "You're not pregnant."

"How do you know?"

"I wouldn't have fucked you if you were able to get knocked up."

"You didn't answer my question!"

"You got poison in your system. Your body ain't gotten back into full swing yet. Ever heard of a woman gettin' pregnant while she was sick from poison?"

She swallowed, she had to agree. "How do you know I'm not better? I've haven't…"

"Oh, you're recoverin' better than I expected, but it's hasn't passed. Still got spots." He waved a hand toward her arms.

That was true, though the spots have faded a great deal, they were still there as if the rays of sunlight had tanned the skin on her arms.

"You still love me?" He asked smirking at her. It was very sexy and even full of 'promises'. It made her feel flush.

"I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about….your sex." She snapped.

"My dick?"

"No! I was talking about….forget it…just forget it…."

Though all she wore was a towel around her torso, she didn't really mind that he saw her. He already saw the full monty earlier on the ship. Yet, she felt the heat flush and an urge to…..

She could…..they could…..they were alone in a room….they already did it earlier. No, not unless she was on the pill or he had protection. She didn't care what Riddick said, she was not tempting fate.

What was wrong with her? She had had sex with a man that had terrorized her for a month and now she wanted to have sex with him again. Yet, she could still feel his body against hers. His body just seemed to heat the room and sink into hers.

Riddick slammed the food canisters on the table top. "Eat somethin' and go to bed. I'll be back before mornin'."

"You're leaving again?"

He walked out the door without saying a word. She heard the click of the lock and the faint sounds of him going down the hall. She huffed and sat back down on the bed. The heat left with him and so was the heated mood.

She ate stew from a food canister and went through the bag Riddick had brought. Inside was a medical kit, liquid drinks, and some clothes, but they were men's clothes. She chose an oversize button up shirt and shrugged into it along with a pair of panties she had been wearing at the time they left Haven. She would rather not sleep in her dress tonight.

As she crawled into bed and commanded the lights to dim, a thought occurred to her. Where was Riddick going to sleep? There was one bed and very small at that. If he thought they were going to have a repeat on the ship and sleep together, he was wrong. No, she was not going to tempt fate and get knocked up. She DID NOT want to carry HIS baby.

She dozed off. She didn't know how long before she was awakened by the door opening and Riddick coming into the room.

"Riddick?" She sat up and rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes. She blinked several times and said, "Riddick?"

"It's fine. Go back to sleep." He was holding a leather satchel in his right hand. Why is that every time this man goes anywhere, he comes back with something?

He turned and shut the door revealing the blood on his back. "Riddick, what happened?" She stumbled out of bed. She snatched the medical kit from the bag and fumbled to open it.

"Fucker tried to ghost me from behind." Riddick set the bag on the floor and nudged it to the wall with a boot. "He won't be tryin' that shit again."

She ignored his implication and managed to open the kit. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Fucker wasn't that lucky."

"Take off your shirt and sit on the bed."

For once, and quite possibly the only time he'll ever obey her, he lifted off his shirt and perched on the bed. She sat behind him with the medical opened at her side. The wound was shallow, but it was long. It trailed from his shoulder and in a swooping motion it traveled almost to his spine. It was still bleeding a little and the blood had stained the skin around it.

She tried to ignore the heat that seemed to emanate from his body to hers and swabbed at the blood with a clean wipe. She gingerly dabbed at the blood near the gap of the wound, but Riddick didn't make a sound. She took a container of disinfectant and shook it. She sprayed the wound with foamy cleanser and wiped away the foam with a pad. Then gently applied cover strips. The strips melded together to form a thin white shell over the cut to prevent bacteria from infecting it. All this time she managed to back the sweet fire of lust from….no, no, no….

Why the hell was she fixing him up? Why? Why? Why? It was so different now. She needed him, actually needed him. If he died…..where would she be? That was why she was helping him now. The only possible reason.

"You're done." She said and put away the remaining strips and the cleanser.

He rotated his shoulder to test the mold. It seemed to meet his standards and said nothing. He stood and went into the bathroom.

She wanted to ask what had happened, but thought better of it. Riddick probably wouldn't answer her and it was probably best if she didn't know. And she really didn't want to know to begin with.

She threw away the wipes and put away the medical kit and then sat on the bed. She hugged her knees to her chest and had to asked, "Riddick, where are….we….going to go after we get a ship?"

"I'll decide when I get a ship."

"If you don't know, just say I don't know."

He didn't reply. He was soaking the shirt in cold water and he may possibly take a shower in a minute. She looked away from his bare back and saw the satchel. She swallowed and stood.

She walked across the small room and knelt at the satchel. She unzipped it and spread the flaps wide. She stared at the array of guns, explosives, and other items she couldn't identify.

She looked up and saw that Riddick was shirtless and was leaning on the door frame of the bathroom door and was watching her. He had removed his goggles and his eyes gleamed at her. In this light….she noticed that they were gleaming almost blue.

"You stole these." She whispered.

"Actually, I tried to make a purchase, but….the sellers got greedy."

"What if they come looking for you…."

"There ain't anybody to come lookin'."

She swallowed and she felt her chest go hollow. He had killed; this man had just ended lives. Was it like the Caretaker's son? Did they cry as they died?

She zipped up the bag and stood. She walked past Riddick and got into bed. She curled onto her side, hugging the blanket around her. She heard movement and she lifted her head to see Riddick arranging a chair. He stretched himself out on the chair and leaned his bald head against the back of it. He had put his goggles back on and they almost glinted in what little light there was. He was still as a statue and she realized that he was going to sleep there.

Whether he was sleeping in the chair for her modesty or rather to engage whoever dared to enter the door while they slept, she didn't know. More like the latter though.

* * *

She woke up and saw that Riddick had left. She ate breakfast of a food canister and watched the newsvid. It contained mostly coverage of the war, fighting in the south and contained very graphic footage that made her stomach want to empty its contents. She quickly switched to a morning show.

It was almost around noon when Riddick came back. He said nothing to her, but downed a food canister and a liquid pack and left. He wouldn't tell her where he had gone and when he would be back. What was he doing that was so important? The satchel of weapons remained where it was from last night. She didn't want to go near it.

She became bored with the vid and flicked it off. She napped and had lunch. She even considered going outside, but quickly dashed that idea. No, it was better to remain safe with one dangerous man than outside with countless of them. There was nothing for her to do, but eat, sleep, and watch the vid.

While she was taking a second catnap, she was shaken awake by Riddick. She was startled to see him towering over her and so near her.

"Get up, shower, and get dress." He ordered as he stepped away from the bedside.

"Wh…wha…are we leaving?" She struggled to sit up and look at him questionly.

"Yeah, hurry, go shower."

"I don't need to shower." She replied. "I took one last night."

"Go take a damn shower."

She stared at Riddick. He was staring at her as she kicked away the sheet and swung her legs over the edge. "Why? You want to see me naked?"

"I already did. Go bathe. You look bad, I look bad."

She grumbled as she entered the bathroom. She unbuttoned the shirt and muttered softly. "You don't need me to look bad."

After she had showered, towel dried her hair, and dressed was when Riddick was satisfied enough to take her outside. He wrapped up the weapons and his supplies into a single pack, which he made her carry. Luckily, they weren't very heavy and she could easily carry them with both arms as if she was carrying groceries. His heavy cloak draped over her shoulders and was pulled over her head. They walked the same way as last night, his hand on her neck and guiding her to their destination.

Which was a bar. She wanted to ask why were they here? Why bring her here? They had enough problems with the men on the street wanting to get between her legs, now they would have to deal with drunks wanting to get between her legs.

The inside was dim and fans spun lazily at the ceiling. It looked a lot nicer on the inside. The seats were leather padded and there were booths. It looked more like a diner than a bar.

Riddick took her to the bar and ordered her something to drink. It wasn't something she wanted, but she wasn't going to complain and irritate him. She sipped it gingerly and Riddick scanned the room. She looked in the he was looking and spotted three men nearby in a booth.

"Stay here." He said and left her to join them. She turned and watched him. She didn't want him to leave her alone in this place. She could feel curious and wistful glances in her direction. The only other woman in the building was a waitress with a high cut skirt and a low cut top. Her nipples protruded out and her breasts looked as if they would spill out of her blouse.

She turned her attention back toward Riddick and the men. The men were well dressed, as if they were from the northern part of the City were the wealthy lived.

One was blonde and his wavy hair curled at his shoulders. The second looked rough and big. Bigger than Riddick, but it was mostly in fat and muscles, not lean and sleek like Riddick.

The last one made her skin crawl. He wore gold chains around his neck and golden and wore many rings on his fingers. He had dark hair and a thin mustache. He grinned a greeting at Riddick and flashed several gold capped teeth. He spoke and she saw that his tongue was pierced. He wore a sweeping cape and his clothes look watery as silk.

Riddick spoke with the men and motioned toward her which made her straighten in her seat. What was Riddick saying about her? Why was she here? Why did he bring her here? She felt very cold with unease.

Riddick motioned for her come to him. She swallowed and set her drink aside and slid off the stool. She approached them, her eyes starting to blur. No, don't….get away, run….

Like a machine she obeyed and Riddick clasped her shoulder tightly almost painfully. He urged her to sit beside the blonde man and he slid in beside her. He slid an arm possessively around her shoulders and pulled the cloak off her head and shoulders.

"Nice, very nice. You weren't kidding." The gold chained man said. He had lit up a cigar and blew scented smoke at her. "She looks fresh as a daisy."

She felt her heart sink.

"Not quite fresh. I had to…test the goods myself." Riddick replied. His callous hand cupped her chin to lift her face upward toward his. "She's good. Has experience, but not too much."

She felt her bottom lip quiver.

"Those eyes…..those are a set of eyes. The kind I like to see behind my dick, know what I mean?" The blonde man laughed.

She wanted to vomit. She wanted to vomit on Riddick, she wanted to tear off the goggles and scratch his eyes out with her finger nails. She hated him to much it hurt.

"I'll take her, but you ain't getting no more than 15,000 U.Ds." The gold chained man said.

"17,000." Riddick replied. "I can take her somewhere else. Her eyes can get me 20, 000 easily."

"Fine, 16,500, but not more." The man replied. "She better be worth that much."

The blonde man tossed an envelope on the table and Riddick collected it. He removed his arm from Rakka's shoulders and it was replaced by the blonde man's arm.

"Riddick…." She whispered, not believing, not wanting to believe.

He left. Slid out from the booth and walked across the diner and out the door. Business was done and she was sold and he was gone again. But this time, he would not be coming back.


	12. Slap

She sat in the back of the limo. Her eyes were wide and dazed. She wore a beautiful evening gown that was purple to match her eyes and the skirt was layered while the top was backless. She wore high heels, of which she was highly unaccustomed to and the sleeves trailed down her arms and ended triangularly ringing her middle fingers. Her hair was piled up high and pinned with a violet stone set into a hair pin.

The hover rose over the city toward a mansion high on a hill on the outskirts of the City. It was a councilman's home and he was having a very formal party. The councilman wanted to rent a girl for the night as a date and for sex later. And Rakka fit the bill.

If someone had looked up as the hover passed over, and in the right shade of light of the setting sun, one would have seen a man in black and goggles, clinging to the bottom of the hover. When the hover landed on a landing pad, the man released himself from the bottom and remained still until the woman was escorted away from the vehicle.

Inside the limo, the woman sat with her hands in her lap like a proper young lady as she awaited her escort. Her eyes ahead and her mind on the horrible memory.

After Riddick had left her in the diner, she had struggled with the men. They had forced her into a hover and one had tried to hit her to quell her struggles, but the gold chained man stopped him.

"Don't damage the goods, man! She's worth 16,500 UDs."

They took her to a darker part of northern sector of the City. On the ride over, she had tried to force open the locked doors, but was yanked away from them and was forced to sit still as they traveled. They got her out of the hover and took her into a building which could have easily been mistaken for a business building. They took her through a lounge like room and downstairs. She fought, she screamed, and even scratched and bit them.

"Let me take my belt off, boss! She's won't be fighting with belt welts on her ass!" The blonde man snarled after she nearly pushed him down the stairs.

"If I had paid 500 UDs and instead of 16,500 UDs, I would let you, but hell no, you can't put a mark on her!"

They forced her into a small room and locked the door. She screamed curses at them and at Riddick wherever the hell he might be. She flopped onto the bed and cried. She cried, damning her weakness and Riddick.

It was maybe an hour later when the door opened and the gold chained man came in. Rakka stood, ready to fight and die before she was raped by this ugly bastard.

"Honey, I ain't in here to mess with ya, I'm only in here to talk." He said holding up his hands. "Sit down. I got something to say to ya."

She sat down on the bed and watched him pull up a chair. He placed it in front of her and sat down. He was so close his knees touched hers and she wanted to shift back onto the bed away from him.

He leaned forward, his hands hanging between his legs. "Honey, let me tell you a little about this business. We ain't a brothel, we ain't a whore high, we're higher class than that. I offer mistresses, not whores, to the rich and political. Sometimes even brides."

She swallowed.

"Listen, sweety, you have no idea how lucky you are to be here and not in some shed doing tricks in an alley. Sweethearts like you have to start on their knees in an alley to get here. You're startin' from the top, know what I mean?"

She shifted on her seat.

"Tonight, we have your very first job lined up. Tonight, Councilman Helmer, is having a banquet tonight for the war effort. He wants a date for the celebration and a little companionship for later tonight."

Rakka looked down at her hands.

"We gave him your info and he seems to like you. Hell, he's paying 350,000 UDs for ya for one night."

Rakka looked up, her eyes wide. "Th…that much?"

"Yeah, baby, that much." The man nodded, a smile tugging at corners of his lips. "We told him you've mostly been a good girl and have had very little 'experience', you're as close to a virgin that we have in our….'stables' for right now." He leaned closer, his face close to hers. "You do good and maybe, just maybe, he'll pay 500,000."

She blinked her eyes several times already feeling the pressure.

"It's probably one of the easiest and most high paying job you'll ever get. All you have to do is just sit there and look pretty and spread your legs for Helmer later. But…." He leaned so close, his nose almost touched hers. His breath was surprisingly pleasant as if he had taken a breath mint earlier. "But if you act up and look bad and make _me _look bad, you're gonna wish you were on your knees in an alley. Got it?"

She nodded.

He studied her face and pushed his chair and stood. "I wanna show you something."

He turned to a vid that Rakka hadn't bother to switch on. He flicked it on and an image appeared of a girl. She was nude and was tied eagle spread across a bed and she was crying. She was everal years younger than Rakka, very most likely in her teens. She had chestnut brown hair and her eyes were tearfully dark. She looked as if she should be in high school studying for tests, gossiping with girlfriends and daydreaming about future boyfriends.

A man stood over her holding (Reki would be thrilled) an ancient chainsaw.

* * *

"Some guys are into it. I don't know why, but they pay good money to slice a girl apart like that. I only let them have girls that have…acted up. Just because she no longer has any arms or legs doesn't mean I can't use her. Some guys and even women are into that too, ya know. The human race is very strange, ya know. You name it and somewhere out there, somebody gets off on it."

The girl had scream in octaves that had to be impossible for the human throat to emit. Blood had splattered along with muscle and bone. The man had worn a mask that looked as if it was sewn together from various human faces.

"I think this guy is a fan of one of those ancient films….what was it called? Hmmm…..I believe it was Texas Chainsaw….slasher? Murderer? Bloodbath? I can't remember. Oh, it was Massacre. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yeah, one of those slash vids from when we inhabited just the planet Earth."

Rakka had thrown up. She had shoved past the man and made it to the bathroom in time. She vomited the contents of the food canister and what she had drank in the diner. When she was able to compose herself to come out and listen to what the man had left to say.

"Some gals will be in here to get you ready for tonight. Just remember what I said and what you saw and you'll do fine. Who knows, you do great tonight and maybe Helmer will buy you and he can be your sugar daddy."

* * *

After he left, a group of five women came and bathe her in scented water and even massage lavender oil into her skin. Then they dressed her in the evening gown and did her hair. They even gave her a manicure and a pedicure. They applied makeup and allowed Rakka to see herself.

She barely recognized herself. She was beautiful. Her lips had a purplish tint mixed within pink and her eye shadow was a dark violet and sparkles line her eyes. Her cheeks were highlighted with blush. Her hair was pile on top of her head and small thin tendrils of hair hung about her face.

_If Riddick could see me now….no, not Riddick, Riddick must die!_

* * *

"She's lovely. Simply lovely."

Helmer was a large man. Highly over weight which was covered with a curtain of silky robes. He wore white and red with his family's crest on his chest. He was deathly pale and his graying hair matted his head.

Rakka had her hands folded in front of her and her head turned away. She wasn't use to being appraised by every man that saw her. The blonde man was standing next to her as her escort and they were inside a conference room. Helmer touched her hair and her cheek. She swore she saw him shiver with lust as she shivered with disgust.

"She reminds me of the first girl I had sex with when I was a young man."

"And I believe that girl was employed by us, Councilman Helmer." The blonde man offered.

"Why yes, she was."  
Rakka wanted to sink into the ground and just die.

* * *

What many people don't know about Helmer, except for his sellers and any underground weasels willing to sell information for money or to prevent Riddick from skinning them alive, was that the councilman was an avid collector of fighter space ships. He kept his private collection inside a base near his house.

A figure was heading toward the base. It wore all black. It was a bald man and he wore goggles over his eyes. He shoved the goggles up his forehead and watched guard who was standing beside a shelter that was built to resemble a small shed.

The guard was chewing something. Riddick sniffed the air. It was tobacco. The guard must be paid a lot to afford something that was rare in this part of the system. His hand tightened around a shiv at his hip. Too bad he wasn't being paid enough.

* * *

A blonde hair merc with a scar near his eye watched the party through a pair of sight goggles. He could see the purple broad being shown around by a fatass politician through the glass walls and ceilings of the ball room. He couldn't believe that the dumb fuck couldn't see that she was the most wanted bounty in this part of the system.

He couldn't see Riddick, but he was sure that Riddick was around somewhere. He asked around at the diner and he was told that a large man had sold a purple eyed woman off to pimps and left the bar. At first, he shrugged it off that Riddick didn't want to carry around the extra baggage and needed the money, but then when he checked out the whore house, the girl was sold to… then he understood Riddick's plan.

Helmer was a collector of war craft ships. It was a known secret in the underworld of the City. It was possibly the only place you could get your hands on a ship strong enough to break orbit and not be chased for stealing, for that Helmer's career with be held in question if his little hobby was discovered by the public.

The broad was just a means to get close enough to steal one.

Toombs didn't know which he wanted more. The little sweety with 50 million on her head which would make him rich or the big man wanted throughout the universe with 500,000 on his head which would make him famous. Fame or Fortune? Decisions, decisions.

* * *

She smiled when she spoken to and answered with one syllable words whenever she was asked questions. She kept her arms on Helmer's only because she didn't want to loose them to some slasher film fanatic.

She could see any guest's eyes that they knew what she was and where she had come from. They knew she was a whore, but did they know that this was her first job as a whore?

It was getting late. Any moment Helmer was going to take her to his bedroom and…..she wanted to vomit. He was so big with fat. She hoped he would let her be on top lest she was crushed to death.

What was she thinking? She had to get away, but where? How? She couldn't let this happen to her? No, she didn't want to, she wasn't going to.

* * *

Toombs ordered a kid named Robb to take his position with a small missile gun. He had made his decision. Get the girl first, get rich, then use the money for better equipment, ship, and a better crew and get Riddick's ass later. If they happen to see Riddick in the chaos, then nab him too.

* * *

Riddick stepped over the body of a guard. It was the last one and no one had any time to press a panic button and sound an alarm. He selected a ship, it not the biggest one, but it was not the smallest either. It was fast with strong shielding, which was the kind he preferred.

He got inside and hacked the power codes and powered on the ship.

* * *

"Come, I want to speak with a friend before we….leave for more personal events, dear." Helmer said softly to her.

She had no choice, but to follow him to a secluded area where many couples were having dinner and some were….having personal time with each other in public.

Helmer guided her to one such couple entangled in each other's arms, in a lounge booth. The woman had long dark hair and she wore a Chinese dress which was slit up to her hips. The man was blonde and….. looked very familiar.

Rakka stared, her mouth dropped open as the man pulled himself away from his lover's embrace and saw Rakka. His eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped.

"Rakka?"

"Marchel?"

It was Reki's husband.

* * *

"Okay, boys, we're gonna go in, grab the bitch, and haul our asses out. Anybody see Riddick, good, try and get him. But remember, our main target is the girl. We can get rich off her and get better shit and then get his ass later."

Toombs took one last drag on his cigarette and tossed it aside. He grounded it with his with the heel of his boot. He spoke into his com again. "Keep the hoods on. We want 'em to think it's a rebel attack. We're in and out in three minutes, no mess ups or our asses will be put in the slam. You know what inmates do to convicted mercs inside a slam."

* * *

"Rakka, what are you…." Marchel stared at her in complete shock.

She could only stare at Marchel. She was angry with Riddick, but it was no where near the burning inferno of rage she felt toward this man before her.

"You…" She hissed. "If you had….been there….then…."

"What is this?" Helmer demanded. The evening had been going quite well, now his hooker was starting to act out of her place.

"Rakka, I can explain…I can…Listen, Reki really doesn't need to know about this." Marchel said moving to stand. The woman, his lover, was reclining back and giving Rakka a smirk that infuriated her.

"Reki's dead." Rakka snapped. "She's been dead for over a month."

"Reki…..oh my god…..what…what about the…."

"The babies are dead….except for one. She's fine and so is Sami." Then realization hit her like a punch to the stomach. "You….haven't called to check on them….they're still in the town….all this time…..you bastard, you've been with HER." She pointed at the woman reclining on the booth.

If he had been there, if he had been there…..then she wouldn't be here now. He could have prevented Riddick from taking over…..from taking her away from her world, her place, and…..herself.

She wanted to rip his head off and spit down his neck.

* * *

Riddick powered up the ship and it lifted out of the opening shaft in the top. It rose out of the ground and Riddick typed in the launch codes to break orbit.

* * *

"Ready….aim….fire…." Toombs whispered into the com.

* * *

Before Marchel could reply, the blast rocked the building and sent shards of glass flying. The glass flew like darts, slicing through flesh and furniture. Rakka saw a pane of glass slice through Marchel's neck, instantly decapitating him. Blood spurted from the gaping hole of his neck, the hole was big enough for….if she had thought to at that moment…..to spit into.

A shard of glass pierced through the true whore's heart where she had reclined smirking at Rakka. Her supple body spasm as blood gushed from her ripped breast on her once beating heart and her body jerked back. Her body sprawled on the leather seats and it did not look sexy anymore.

Rakka had survived due to Helmer's large girth. His large body took the most of the flying glass, blocking them from hers. Helmer didn't die as quickly as Marchel and his woman. He lay on the floor crying for his mother and reaching out toward Rakka beseechingly as she stared frozen in shock. Much like the Caretaker's son did with a pipe in his gut.

Rakka could only stare at the large prone body and fought to keep from puking. Blood was pooling around her feet, almost ankle deep. It slipped into her shoes and warmed her feet. It clung to the hem of her many layered skirt.

Glass was crunching nearby and she turned to see three men stepping over the broken glass toward her. They wore hoods over their faces and had highpower rifles.

The one in lead pointed his rifle at her. "You're comin' with us, sweetheart."

* * *

Robb watched Toombs and the others corner the girl. Easy bounty with a huge pay. Not bad, not bad at all. Too bad they couldn't get Riddick also.

A sound came from above and he looked up to see a fighter craft emerging from an underground shaft. It had to be Riddick.

Without thinking, he aimed his gun and fire.

* * *

The second explosion shook the building and more glass fell from the ceiling. Not as deadly as the first, but dangerous. Rakka slipped on the blood and cut her hand when she caught herself on the booth where a shard of glass was protruding. It wasn't a large cut, but it still hurt. An arm seized her around the neck and a voice roared. "That fuckin' Robb!"

* * *

Riddick had to slam the ship against the building to avoid the second shot. Good thing the kid was an amateur not and a pro which he no doubt told Toombs.

* * *

Rakka could see the ship ascending through the broken glass walls.

"Riddick…." The man who held her snarled.

_Riddick…Riddick…was he…no…she would have to…herself._

She did it before she had time to think twice, before her common sense took hold. She grabbed a shard of glass which had embedded itself in the leather booth arm and had cut her. She yanked it out, cutting her palm again and stabbed it into Toombs' arm.

He yelled and released her. She lunged forward toward the ship. Her bloodied shoes crunching and crushing glass.

"Don't shoot! She's needed alive!"  
_Don't think, don't think, just do it. Just do it._

Her skirts flew as she leapt out the broken glass walls and she thudded onto the ship's wing. She clung for dear life as it moved away from the building.

Toombs had lunged after her. He managed to grab a handful of her skirt with his bleeding arm just as the ship was pulling away. Before he could haul her away from ship's wing, Robb fired another missile. It shook the building so badly, Toombs lost his balance and almost fell onto the glass littered floor.

All he could grab of the 50 million bounty was a handful of her skirt which was rip free as Riddick pulled the ship away from the building. He stood holding the strip of satin and watch the ship take off with the two most wanted bounties in his career.

* * *

Riddick could hear something flapping at the side of the ship. He put the ship on auto pilot and switched on the monitor. He could see a purple figure clinging to the wing of the ship. He looked closer and cursed softly to himself.

He slid out of the pilot's ship and headed toward the back.

* * *

She didn't know how long she had held on for life. She didn't know when Riddick was going to go into orbit. All she knew she was going to die. Whether she was going to fall off the ship or die from the suffocation of space, she didn't know.

Maybe she shouldn't have jumped onto the ship. Maybe she should have stayed behind with the men. She might have lived longer with them.

She was fighting against the turbulence and the wind pulling at her dress. Then she felt the wind yanking at her skirt. No, it was something solid. She lifted her head and turned to see Riddick, goggles over his eyes and was leaning out the back of the ship yanking at her skirt.

He was going to pull her off! She held on tighter, so tight it hurt her arms and hands, especially her bleeding hand. He got a good grip and pulled hard. Her sweating hands lost their grip and for one terrifying moment, she was flying back airborne.

Riddick caught and wrapped an arm around her waist as she was thrown back and pulled her into the ship. He tossed her to the floor and pressed a switch to shut the door behind them. Rakka knelt on the floor, shocked and exhausted. She was in disbelief that she still lived and she was on solid ground.

A shadow appeared at the floor around her. She lifted herself up and spun around. Her bleeding palm caught Riddick right on the cheek. She slapped him so hard it hurt her and smeared blood on his face. His head rocked to the side and Rakka almost fell to the floor, she swung her body to hard and so fast. She caught herself on the twin seats lining the sides of the ship.

"You bastard. You fucking bastard." She whimpered, feeling tears blur her vision. Riddick turned his head to watch her shivering figure. His tongue slid out to lick at the blood smear at his cheek as droplets of blood crept toward the corner of his mouth.

Her hair was seized from behind and she was yank back. Her body was bent backwards and slammed his mouth onto hers, his tongue ravaging his mouth. She struggled, her hands batted at him to get him away from her. She even slapped his face again. A newborn kitten attacking a wolf was all it was to him. His mouth finally left hers and she gasped for air and screamed a stream of the worst obscenities she ever heard in her life.

He shoved her onto her back on the floor, kneeling over her legs and skirts. "How much did the fat man paid to fuck you?"

"Go to hell!" She screamed. Her hands flew up to scratch his face, his chest, his arms, whatever she could to hurt him.

He easily caught her hands with his. "Already been there and back."

"Get off!" She hollered.

"Answer me first."

"Get off!"

"I'm comfortable here." Which was true, the skirts were cushioning his knees and legs.

"350,000." She screamed frustrated.

Riddick whistled through his teeth. "Fat fuck didn't know he was being ripped off."

Her rage was so strong it hurt her ears and teeth.

Riddick notice a small purple purse at her hip. He yanked it from her hip and opened it with one hand. "What's this?"

She looked away. She had been given a few birth control pills, a tube of lubricant, and four aphrodisiac mini-derms before she left for the party. Something for the late night party she had been told.

"Fat man paid 350,000 and didn't get his fuck, did he?" He said. He got off her. He stood and went to the pilot's seat. "Sit down and buckle up. We're leaving this grass stain of a planet."


	13. Greetings

She sat in the back as far from Riddick as possible. This ship had more space than the previous one. It even had a small bathroom and a small oven for cooking food. She sat in one of the passenger seats and sobbed softly to herself. Why was she crying? She was safe….as safe as one could be with Riddick.

What if he tries to sell me again? A thought occurred to her.

"That money is mine!" She yelled to the front. "The money you got when you sold me."

Riddick didn't turn and face her, he simply reached into a slit at his pants leg and held up the envelope he was given. He waved it at her. "Come up here and get it."

She couldn't. She wasn't strong enough to take it from him nor was she brave enough to go near the front window. The emptiness of space scared her, made her feel very small and insignificant. God, this was the first time she had ever been off planet and nothing on any vid shows could prepare you for the real thing.

"I hate you!"  
"You and whole lot of people do."

The floor felt cold to her bare feet. She threw away the shoes and washed the blood from her feet and ankles. She scrubbed at the blood stains at the hem of the skirt, but the blood refused to wash away from silk. She wanted the dress off. It was becoming uncomfortable, but she refused to undress in front of him. Plus, she couldn't figure out how to remove the damn thing in the first place. She had wrapped a bandage around her cut hand, it still stung, but it would heal.

She leaned her head back and said, "I saw Marchel."

"Who?"  
"Reki's husband. He was with another woman."

"I'm not surprise." He leaned back in the pilot's chair. "Man leaves a woman about to pop so's he can hump another woman."

"You're disgusting. You used me. You used me to get this ship. That's why you sold me to them. But….how do you know that I would have been paid for by Helmer?"

He was adjusting some controls on the console as if he didn't hear her.

She continued. "How did you know I wouldn't have been sent somewhere else?"

"I asked around. Knew Helmer's type and you fit the bill. I even knew where he shopped for whores." Riddick slid out his seat and approached her. She shifted in her seat knowing it was useless to stand and try to get away. Where could she go where he couldn't follow on a ship in the middle of space?

"Riddick, leave me alone. I am _not _in the mood." She hissed as he stopped near her. She felt something pinch her skin and quick exhale of air. She turned her head to see Riddick's hand holding an empty aphrodisiac mini-derm.

"You will be soon."

"Riddick!"

He slid in the seat next to her, his arm snaking around her shoulders. She wanted to ignore the heat of his flesh on her bare shoulders, the feeling of his muscles contained within his clothes, the warmth of his breath on her face as he leaned close to her. His nose touched hers before his lips met hers. The heat in her belly….was it her or the drug?

"It's a long time before we get to planet Echo, but it's not long enough for us to go into cryo." His lips moved against her mouth as he spoke. "You wanna play word games or do you wanna fuck instead?"

She swallowed. _No, no, no, she hated him, she was angry with him. It was the aphrodisiac in her system. She hated him, hated him. _

His large hand flatten on her stomach and it moved up belly, beneath her breasts. His fingers were brushing beneath the curvatures of them. She wanted to push him away, stall him until the aphrodisiac wore off.

"What about Sami and Carolyn? They're orphans now. Marchel died in the attacks."

"They're fine. They'll get adopted by the people in the town."

"Why….why did you name the baby Carolyn?"

This made him pause. "Rakka…..let's just fuck."

His tongue flicked at her ear sending sparks down her arms.

_It was alright. It's was just the aphrodisiac. It was fine. She could be mad at him later. Just enjoy him, use him._

"Wait. I…want the birth control pills." She said.

Riddick dropped them into her lap. He had been prepared. She took one dry and set the small pack aside on the floor. She turned into his body and put her arms around him, beneath his shoulders, and pulled herself close to his body.

How he figured out how to undo the small hooks of her dress, she would never know for that she felt it slide off her body and crumble to the floor in small breaths. She was wearing a violet teddy beneath it with garters. He simply removed them as he did the dress. No kissing, no tantalizingly removing each garment one piece at a time, and touching each part of bare skin. He took it all off so she was naked against him. She was leaning into his chest, his thick around weighting down her shoulders making her lean slightly downward.

She felt stirrings of anger. If she was going to be completely naked, then so should he. She sat up, almost pushing his arm off her and grabbed the front of his shirt and ripped it open. Riddick's eyebrows arched as she shoved it down his arms and spine, she pulled it around his spine, and tossed it to the floor on top of the forgotten dress.

She kissed his sculpted chest and sucked at it like she did the first time. He stood, despite her holding onto his arms to keep him with her, and moved to stand in front of her. Her hands slid down his chest and belly to his pants and undid them. She removed his erecting member from his pants and ran her hands down its growing length.

Riddick sighed, and placed his hands on her upper arms. Rakka groped his balls while her other hand stroked his length. She watched her hands mesmerize at her own actions. Her hand slid up his length and her thumb rolled over the head. He was huge; it was so hard to believe that this had been inside her body, in fact was pounding in and out of her. She leaned forward till her forehead touched Riddick's cobbled belly. If someone had told her last week that she would be giving Riddick a hand job she would have laughed at them.

Riddick gyrated his hips slowly as she stroked him urging her to quicken her pace. For some reason she wasn't getting the message, so engross was she in her actions. Frustrated, he thrust forward so hard that his penis's head touched her parted lips, and the sweet warm wetness made him suck in air.

Rakka had released him and leaned back in arousing shock. Riddick cupped her chin and lifted her head to meet his gaze. He had removed his goggles and his silver eyes met her blue-violet ones. His thumb stroked her lips and then his hand slid to the back of her head.

Rakka knew what was next and she wasn't sure she liked it. He took a step closer to her, his knees brushing the edge between her legs. He held himself with one hand and the other was smoothing her hair.

She looked at him. He wastoo big to completely. . . she would choke. "Riddick, don't….don't choke me okay."

"I'm not gonna make you do somethin' you can't." He assured her.

She lean forward and kissed his belly, his washboard abs, and his nipple. His erection prodded her shoulder, her breast, and then her stomach as she raised herself higher. He kissed her on the lips, his mouth moistening hers, and then he grasped her shoulder and shoved her back into the seat, urging her back to the task he wanted. She lean toward him and hesitated. She stuck out her tongue and licked the head. She ran languid licks up and down his length like a small kitten. She leaned further forward and placed her hands at his hips. She gained enough courage to part her lips and took him into her mouth.

For one second she held him in her mouth, not sure of what to do, until she lifted her head and brought it back down. She had seen porno flicks on the vids out of curiosity when she was a teen. Seeing it and doing it was two different things. The woman could do it without gagging on the length and always had smiles in their eyes. Rakka couldn't go down far before she would gag and have to come up. She tried to keep her teeth from scraping him, but she couldn't hold her mouth wide enough for him. She didn't feel she was doing a good job.

Riddick's hand slid alone her shoulder and drape between her breasts. It slid down her stomach to wedge between her thighs. She stiffened when she felt his fingers enter her already wet vagina. She lifted her head from him closed her eyes and enjoy herself.

"Don't stop." Riddick commanded softly. He pushed her head back onto him with his other hand.

How could the women in the porns concentrate on a giving oral sex while being penetrated from behind? Didn't they worry they may accidentally bite their partners? Or the partner penetrating them might thrust too roughly and cause them to accidentally hurt the other partner? These were questions that never came to her mind.

Riddick held her hair from her face so he could see her lips wrapped around him. He tilted her head up and looked into her eyes. They're eyes met and he had to agree with the man at the diner. She did have nice eyes for this. Yet, she was very inexperience. He had had better blow jobs, but her inexperience aroused him.

He tugged on her hair to make her stop and he removed his hand from her. She straightened her back and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.

"I'm sorry, if I wasn't any good." She said.

"At least I'm not paying for it." Riddick replied. He startled her by grabbing her knee and lifting her leg up and spun her on her bottom and positioned her on her back on the row of seats.

Her legs were parted and she expected him to kneel between her legs and penetrate her, but he lowered his body to the floor and leaned away the seats. He grabbed her thigh and pulled her lower body toward his head. She felt the heat of his cheek against her inner thigh and gasped at the sweet sensation of her clit being lapped at. She closed her eyes and moaned as Riddick fumbled it between his lips. He sucked it and even nipped it sending shock waves through her belly. He thrust two fingers into her body and moved them into a come here motion to stroke her g-spot.

She arched her back, her bare feet braced on Riddick's shoulders. Her hands touched his stubble head to keep him there. He lifted his head and his body. He removed his boots and his pants, but the goggles remained.

She stared at his body. He was a beautiful man; his body looked as it was sculpted by the human imagination of what masculine beauty was. She sucked in a deep breath with awe and the sweet flattery of knowing that she was going to be very intimate with him.

He knelt on the seats pulling her body toward his and looped her leg over the bend of his arms and let the other across his thigh and hanged her calf and foot off the seats. His hard hands grazed up her sides and he tightened his grasp. He entered her slowly watching her face contort slightly from discomfort, but mostly pleasure.

It was more comfortable this time. And also, he entered her more gently this time. She inhale deeply and Riddick began his smooth strokes within her body. Her breasts rocked at each thrust and she felt her body building a sweat. Wave after wave of intensity washed over her body. His hands slid down to firmly grip her hips and she could see him building a sweat too. His light bronzed body began to glisten and she put her hands lower arms at her hips and could feel the damp dew of sweat.

Riddick licked his lips letting the sweet heat wash over his body. He leaned forward, placing his hands on either side of her head. Her leg was still hook over his arm and her knee was pushed toward her shoulder. He looked at her face and her halo of hair beginning to gleam near her scalp. She was beautiful when she wasn't complaining, but even when she did she would have a compelling look that just begged for him to possess.

She reminded him so much of Carolyn. If it wasn't for the blue-violet eyes and the long hair she would be Carolyn. Yet, this one was so much more….hesitant, more moral than Carolyn. Yet, before Carolyn met her death, she had….found herself.

He released her leg and it startled her by falling between the back of the seats and his side. His hands slid underneath Rakka's upper back and lifted her to him. He twisted his body and carried hers with his. He settled her on his lap and her legs around his waist. He thrust upward into her and tilted her head by the hair to devour her mouth. His other arm crushed her small frame to his bigger one, her breasts crushed against his hard chest. Her arms were about his broad shoulders, pulling herself against him, as if trying to meld with his body by sheer will.

They reached their climax together this time. Her nails raked his back, leaving shallow scratches and his fingers left bruises at her back. They remained in that position, their bodies linked, basking in the afterglow of sex.

She leaned back and shifted her pelvis so that Riddick slid from her body. She said breathlessly, "That must have been a strong dose of aphrodisiac in that mini-derm."

Riddick smirked at her. "There wasn't any."

She stared at him. "You injected me."

"I emptied the mini-derm into the sink and filled it with water." Riddick explained. "I injected you with H2o, ordinary water. It was all you."

"I hate you."

"Last time you said you loved me."

"I was talking about the sex. Not you the sex."

"Oh, you hate me, but love having sex with me."

"Yes."

"Makes sense to me."

She got dressed in the gown and Riddick could wear only his pants and boots. His shirt was ripped, ruined and she took small joy in ruining something of his.

She overcame her fear of deep space and sat in the co-pilot's seat while she tried to get answers from him.

"You're not planning on selling me again are you?"

"Maybe."

"Bastard."

He shrugged. "Possibly."

"Where are we going?"

"I'll decide when I get there."

"You said that about the ship and looked where I turned up. I had to watch a poor girl get her arms and legs sawed off! Sawed off! How could you have sold me to people like them?"

"Life's a bitch and I guess you're going to be one too."

She kept quiet. Why? Why? Why did she sleep with him again? She must be such a slut. She felt like one.

They were nearing the planet Echo. It was on the edge of the Green system and was thankfully far from the conflict on Haven. It was a water planet, with a single continent and the massive ocean was dotted with islands. It provided mostly fish and other types of seafood from its massive and single ocean toward intergalactic trade.

"Riddick, why are we going there?" She tried.

Before Riddick could give her a smartass remark, a message beeped in. Riddick sat up actually surprise, to her own surprise. The only time she had seen him surprise was when Rakka had ripped his shirt.

"Are you going to answer it?" Rakka asked.

He hissed for silence and pressed a key on the console. A monitor flashed to life and a face of a young man appeared.

He was young and had dark hair with a pale complexion, but his eyes….they were large pools of wine red. At first, Rakka thought his eyes were bleeding, then she realized…..

"He's Hitomian, like me." She whispered. This was her first time seeing another Hitomian other than her own parents.

"Greetings from the Hitomian community, Ms. Rakka Laotaner." The young man said in her direction. "We were expecting you."

Riddick raised an eyebrow in her direction. She shook her head; she didn't know how they knew she was coming. "You chose this planet to come to. Don't blame me. You wouldn't tell me where we were going, remember?"

"I am sure you and your escort are very tired from your journey. I am sending you the coordinates of our island. We are preparing for your arrival now. We hope the rest of your journey is a pleasant one and we hope your stay with us will be pleasant as well."

The man bowed his head in respect and signed out. The monitor static and went dead. A few moments later, sure enough data was pouring into the ship's computer. Riddick leaned forward and tapped some keys and the data appeared on a second monitor. He studied the information and Rakka couldn't make any sense out of it.

"Riddick, I do not know how they know about me! I lived on Haven my entire life. My parents were the only other Hitomians I know. I don't even know if they knew the Hitomians on this planet." She babbled.

"Somehow they knew we were coming." He said as he adjusted the controls according to the received data. He leaned back in his seat, placing his boots on the console. He templed his hands together and said, "I wonder if they have shirts in my size."


	14. Child

They did have shirts in his size.

Riddick piloted the ship through the entry of the atmosphere and coasted to the island indicated by the coordinates. It was a large island, large enough for a central city surrounded by family villas and villages.

The young man returned on the monitor and guided Riddick to a landing pad within the city. Riddick smoothly landed the ship and the shaft was lowered into the building's center. Rakka's eyes quickly adjusted to the brightness to see a small group of people in robes standing off on a ramp that led to another part of the building.

They were all Hitomian. Their eyes shone like bits taken from a rainbow as well as their robes. She never seen such fine embroidery, as if they were all aristocrats.

"Riddick, I honestly don't know how they know me." She said for what must have been the 10th time.

"Don't call me Riddick, I'm Johns for now." He replied. He was scanning the welcoming crowd, his silver eyes gauging the possible enemy.

"Alright. But…what if they ask about you?"

"Tell them you paid me to bring you here." Riddick replied.

"And why am I here?"

"To visit family."

"Riddick, they'll see through that. They know my last name, they'll…."

"Then you're here on business."

She sighed, her heart pounding. "I wished I hadn't ripped your shirt."

"So do I."

"You know what it's going to look like. They'll know that we…."

"They're waitin' on you." He motioned to the people.

"I don't know them." She touched his arm. "Come with me, please."

He tilted his head and regarded her with a twisted smirk. "I'm starting to think you can't get enough of me."

To her relief he went with her.

* * *

"On behalf of the Kunas Family, I, Ori Kunas, wish to welcome you to planet Echo, Priestess Rakka Laotaner. And I would also like to extend further welcome and thanks to your escort, Richard B. Riddick." The wine red eyed young man bowed deeply before them.

Rakka's eyes were wide. "Priestess?"

Riddick had shifted his boots, but said nothing. He stood behind Rakka and looked dangerously at Ori Kunas.

"Yes, you are a Priestess of the All Seeing?" The young man inquired uneasily under Riddick harsh gaze..

"No, I'm not."

"Oh, my deepest apologies. I never met one of the Blessed Eyes who was not apart of the Sight." Ori step to the side, his robes whistling. "We have fresh clothes for you and food if you are hungry. You are expected at the Grand Temple this afternoon, but if you are unable to make the trip today, I'll send word telling them to expect you tomorrow."

Rakka stared at him, very much overwhelmed. How? How did they know who she was and her family name? She told no one, not even Reki or Riddick. And how did they know about Riddick. She glanced at him and he did not look happy. His full lips were in a grim line and he stood tall, but she could feel his body posed and full of potential violence.

She realized that Ori Kunas was politely awaiting her reply. "Uh…well…fresh clothes would be nice and maybe something to eat. I…don't know about going to the temple today, though. We're pretty tired."

Ori glanced at Riddick's bare upper body. "I see."

Riddick return his glance with a curl of his lip. Ori turned his attention back to Rakka and replied. "It is no problem at all. I'll notify them that you'll be visiting them tomorrow. I hope you will find our greetings much to your pleasure."

* * *

Riddick received a new shirt. It was black and sleeveless like his first, except it was silk. Rakka changed out of her purple gown in exchange for a silken white robe much like what the other Hitomians wore. She wore silk leggings underneath and rabbit skin slippers. She wore her hair in a long copperish blonde braid down her back and had washed the layers of makeup from her face.

They had been taken to a grand suite. It was huge with a kitchen, living room, playroom, guest room, and a single bedroom with a huge bed. Riddick was in the living room watching the news on a massive vid attached to the wall reclining on the grand red couch. She watched him for a few moments and couldn't help but notice how the black silk enhanced his masculinity by melding to his muscular …..no….no…..not again….

She sat on a lounge chair away near him. "I don't know…."

"….how they knew of you." Riddick finished for her. He lowered the volume of the vid and sat up. "Why did they think you were some voo-doo bitch?"

"If you mean why they thought I was a priestess, then I don't know. Maybe my eyes. My mother told me that my eye color is very rare and is considered sacred by our people. She didn't tell me anymore than that. I've….never been around other Hitomians before."

Riddick upped his boots on the glass coffee table, his ankles crossed and leaned back.

"Are….what are…..going to do?" She asked. When did she depend on him so much?

"Hang for a while. See where this takes us." Riddick replied.

"You're going to stay with me?"

"Not that I have a choice. They took the ship."

"Wha…they said that they were keeping it safe."

"Safe from us." He replied.

Rakka swallowed and fought the panic she felt bubbling up. "They seem friendly."

"Sister, the only time people are that happy to see you are when they want something from you."

"I'll get us something to drink." She just needed to get away from him for a moment. She went to the back to a glass cabinet where several fine vintages were kept. She fought to keep her hands steady as she selected a bottle and two glasses.

She returned with the bottle and glasses in hand when she saw Riddick standing at the window and looking out with his goggles on his forehead. His silver eyes were focused hard enough that she felt that he could singe the glass inches from his face.

She froze. She recognized the look in his face. It was the same as back on Haven, when he had spotted the mercs hunting in the woods. "Rid….Riddick…..?"

Her hands almost dropped the wine glasses and bottle. Riddick turned his head to look at her. "Pour the drinks, Rakka, and have a drink. You're gonna need it."

She swallowed and made her way to the coffee table on legs that felt that at any moment they would collapse beneath her. She poured the wine into both glasses, almost spilling it several times, her hands were shaking.

"Shouldn't we call for help?" She asked and was ashamed that her voice came out into a sob.

"Maybe, and maybe it won't come." Riddick replied.

She raised a glass to her lips and swallowed. It had a pleasant taste of grape and red tingle on her tongue, but she would have enjoyed it more for not the fear. She forced herself to drink it all and she felt it began to relax her….a little bit.

Riddick left the window and approached her. He took up the second wine glass and downed it one gulp. He picked up the bottle and to her amazement tilted his head back and drained half of its contents. Riddick licked his lips and read the label. "Nice."

He set it aside on the table and looked at her. "Take off the robe."

"What?"

"Take it off and drop it on the floor."

"Wh…no…." She tried to keep the whine from her throat. "Is it mercs? Is it?"

"I want your clothes on the floor and I want you in the bedroom's bathroom and stay there. Stay there until I say so."

She felt as if her insides were being scooped out with a cold ice cream scoop. Her hands tremble as she undid the clips at her shoulder to release her robe and her breathing was hectic. She was on the verge of screaming from sheer panic.

"They're not gonna touch you, Rakka."

It shocked her to hear him say words like that. It shocked her that it was like a warm soothing balm on her nerve and fear. She shucked off the robe and tossed it onto the floor and turned and left to the bathroom. She even removed her bra and tossed it casually on the bed.

Riddick removed his shirt and slung it over the back of the couch and askew the cushions. He even dripped wine on to the couch leaving reddish stain. He went into the bedroom slid between the covers and tugged on the sheets. He gathered the pillows together and shaped them beneath the covers against him. He commanded the lights off and waited…..hunting…

* * *

"We're moving in."

"They're asleep."

"By the looks of it, they'll be too full of sex and wine to put up too much of a fight."

"Hush. Take point."

Three figures enter sleekly into the suite through the open windows. They wore all black and infrared goggles over their eyes. Their boots made no sound as they moved past the discarded garments on the floor and the half empty wine bottle.

They approached the bedroom door. One tested the lock and pushed the door open silently with the barrel of the gun. It swung open and they switch their goggles over to nightvision. They spotted the large man with his arm slung over a small figure under the sheets.

The leader motioned for one of his crew to approach the sleeping man. As the one neared, they didn't notice the man flick his wrist and the gleam of the shiv in time.

Riddick moved smoothly and almost artisticly as he spun from his sleeping position on the bed and embedding his shiv into the man's throat. Shots were fired and a man found himself flying across the room and slamming into the far wall. His head cracked on a small metal hook connected to the wall used for hanging bathrobes and his body swung down like clock's pendulum. He suffered for five minutes before he gradually died.

The leader managed to make it out of the bed room before a single kick to the back of the knee crippled him. He yelped as he crashed into the couch and toppled over it to smash onto the wine glasses and bottle. The glass coffee table shattered beneath his impact. Glass tore his clothes as he was hauled to his feet. Riddick ripped off the hood.

The man had wine red eyes. Ori Kunas.

* * *

Rakka was sitting the tub with a thick towel wrapped around her and her legs curled to her chest. She heard the commotion in the bedroom and it terrified her. It was quiet now, but was it safe?

She got out of the tub and approached the door. She opened it quietly, but gagged when she saw the body leaning on the bed and screamed when she saw the body hanging off the hook on the wall.

A scream followed hers. She fought the urge to vomit and was compelled to go to the livingroom. She saw Riddick holding Ori Kunas in a strangle hold with one arm around his throat and the other holding his hand. Riddick twisted his wrist and a snapping sound emitted from Ori's fingers and he screamed again.

"Riddick!"  
"Get back in the bathroom!" He kept his attention on Ori not looking at her.

"Ri…riddick….."

"GO!" His voice roared at her like the voice of God.

She turned and fled from the scene back to the bathroom. She vomited into the toilet when she got there.

* * *

"You gonna tell me what the fuck you got planned?" Riddick spoke into Ori's ear. "The bounties?"

Ori laughed painfully through bloodied teeth. "Money means nothing compared to what you two mean to us."

"Never heard that before." Riddick commented. He gripped Ori's wrist. "You gonna tell me what we 'mean' to you."

"You will bring about….the Sight of God." Ori's pain fill gazed turned into fanatical gleam. "You and her and the Child you two will bear. The chosen, the blessed, a combination of Furyan and Hitomian. Both beautiful and powerful."

Riddick blinked. For the first time….he was truly stunned, possible one might dare say shocked. Bounties, yes. Revenge, sure. Trying to be tough and get a rep for taking down the Riddick, of course. One time he was called an artist and was wanted for his 'artwork' but this…..

"You…must go to her now." Ori murmured, turning onto his side and raising his good hand to touch Riddick's chest in plea. "Take her….give her your seed so that the Child can be born unto us. Bring about our…."

Crack. Ori's body slumped forward, his neck at his odd angle.

* * *

She hung a disused robe on the hook were the body had hung. Anything to hide the blood stained from her eyes. She shivered. Riddick had removed the bodies and had taken them out the window, possibly to dump them in the ocean.

She curled up in a kitchen chair and held a glass in both hands and a brandy bottle was on the counter next to her. She drained her glass and let its warm contents sooth her. She was getting drowsy but she dared not sleep.

Riddick returned. He entered the kitchen just when she had poured herself another glass. He walked across the tiled floor and took the glass from her hands and drained it himself.

"Where did you…."  
"Better that you don't know." He replied as he passed her and set the glass in the sink.

"I was using that…." She said.

"You had enough. You'll wake up with a headache in the morning." He retrieved something from his pants leg and plopped it onto the table in front of her. It was small box and it was light blue and written in feminine cursive writing was 'one step pregnancy test'.

"Riddick, why did…."

"You said you wanted one."

"That was days ago." She replied. "And you said not to worry about it."

"I can be wrong." Riddick replied smoothly and sat down in the second chair.

She picked up the test and stared at it. Her eyes glanced over the instructions. This was a good type of test, instant results and guaranteed to be 100 percent correct. "I'll…it'll take a few minutes." She said.

She stood from her chair and headed toward the second bathroom in the guest room. She had to ask, so she paused at the doorway and said, "What if…..what happens if this….."

"I'll decide when I find out." Riddick dismissed.

She swallowed and entered the bathroom. She thought back to her last period months ago. She hated having periods, they were messy, uncomfortable, inconvenient, and gave her cramps. And due to her irregularity, it would come as a surprise and not on a scheduled or planned for as other women's. Now she would give anything to pull down her underwear and see its crotch muddled with blood.

The doctor himself said that it would be hard for her to get pregnant. She can't be pregnant, she just couldn't be. She and Riddick had unprotected sex once. . . but that was all it took, just once. God, if she could go back in time and not say 'go ahead', or at least ask if he had a condom somewhere on the ship and if he didn't. . . they wouldn't have had sex, simple as that.

Dammit, she was an ADULT! Teenage girls get pregnant from unprotected sex because they didn't have enough sense to get a condom or birth control. She was an adult, how could she do something so stupid. Better yet, how could Riddick do something so stupid? It wasn't just HER responsibility, it was his as fucking well. Or maybe he just didn't care, it wouldn't surprise her.

She removed the kit from the box. It resembled a small spoon except the dip was a small compartment that slid in the tiny mechanism that'll test the urine. She read the instructions again and got ready.

She hadn't been having any morning sickness. Didn't it usually come in the first month of pregnancy? Or cravings? Reki sometimes had cravings. What if she was pregnant? Abortion? No, she…couldn't….but she couldn't have a baby.

She put her sample into the small test. A tiny screen on the side of the kit counted down 30 seconds till results were available. Rakka watched the small countdown with the countdown on the counter and she seated on the lowered toilet lid.

How could she have a baby now? She was on the run with a dangerous man who could be the father. How could she go through pregnancy, labor, and raise a child with Riddick? It wasn't possible, it just couldn't happen. Riddick wouldn't….she knew he wouldn't….stick around long if she was pregnant. But an abortion….would solve the problem….

God, the eons old debate of abortion. It's not life if it's just a lump of cells, the cells have the potential to become a living breathing human being, it's a woman's choice, what about the choice of the embryo? She never gave the topic of abortion much thought. In her mind, abortion was bad, but women had the right to choose. Jesus, she never thought that the topic would EVER apply to her.

No, she couldn't kill a baby. No……please, she didn't want to be pregnant. Please, God, don't let me get pregnant so I don't have to sweat these things. . .

Her bottom lip tremble as she sent the silent prayer to God. The results appeared on the kit.

* * *

Riddick looked up when Rakka exited the guest room. She had tears in her eyes. She smiled and said, "I'm not pregnant."

She held up the little kit with the blessed words NOT PREGNANT.

Riddick exhale a long breath. "We'll keep it that way."

She smiled and wiped the happy tears from her eyes. "I know without a doubt in my mind, that you would be out the window and I would never see you again if I came out with positive test results…."

She expected Riddick to reply with a 'damn straight' or 'you got that right', but there was a deaf fill pause. She looked up and he was staring at her. She couldn't see his eyes because of the goggles, but his mouth was set in a grim line.

"We should be alright for the rest of the night." He said thinly. "You can sleep in the guest room tonight."

She swallowed feeling ice slid over her body. "What happens tomorrow? What if there are more mercs?"

"Act like nothing happened. See what happens. They try and pull anymore shit like this again and there'll be more bodies."

She threw away the kit after giving the test results one more glance over. She was thrilled and relieved with the results. They had enough complications to deal with.

She curled up into the blankets and tried to sleep, but her thought went back to what happened between her and Riddick. She had made Riddick mad. Why? Because of a joke about him abandoning her and their unborn baby (which doesn't exist, thank so much, God)?

Why was he offended? It's not like she was serious…..but she was serious. She knew he wouldn't stick around if she was pregnant. And he knew it too. He would leave and she would never see him again.

She realized she felt a worm of guilt. Had she hurt his….feelings? No, he didn't have any feelings to be hurt. Why should what she said hurt him, how? He was stronger than her, could get things his way, he can accomplish so much more than her, he was more respected than her…..he was so much more than her that she wondered why he even bothered being around her. Why waste his time with her when he could be somewhere else with another woman a better woman more deserving of his attentions than her?

Well, he WAS stuck with her after all. She supposed it was better to be in a nice suite with her than be out there in the street alone. That made sense to her, but then again, Riddick himself never made much sense to her since she met him.

Why the hell did she care? She didn't love him. She hated his guts. He _sold _her. Sold her to pimps as a whore. And he has tried not once, but twice, to abandon her. So what difference would it make to him if she was pregnant?

She became angry. So what! She didn't want him around if she was pregnant. Angry tears appeared in her eyes. She wanted him to leave if she was pregnant, hell she'd tell him to get the hell out and not come back and if he wouldn't leave, she abort the pregnancy. Yeah, she would rather abort the baby than have a man, a murderer like Riddick help raise her child. Baby would be better off not being born than have a father like Riddick.

She wrestled with herself. He just protected her.

She knew she was reasoning with anger, but…..she cried with painful guilt and then came to a conclusion. She didn't hurt Riddick's feelings at all. He didn't have any feelings to be hurt with. And she would only apologize to him if he apologized for selling her. It was enough to allow her to sleep at least.

* * *

She woke up with a headache in the morning, just as Riddick predicted. She took some painkillers from the bathroom's med cabinet. She headed into the kitchen and saw that Riddick was sitting at the table with a fresh pot of coffee at the brewer. A mug rested at his elbow and a mini vid was blaring on the wall.

She didn't say a word. She fetched a mug and poured herself a cup from the pot. She swallowed a mouthful and inhaled a deep breath. If he wanted to act as if nothing happened last night, it was fine with her.

A message beeped at small console near the suite door. She set down the mug and watched for Riddick's response. He looked over his shoulder and said, "Answer it."

She hurried across the living room, running her fingers through her hair and rubbed her eyes to make herself more presentable. She pressed the acceptance key and a face appeared on the screen by the door.

"Good morning, Ms. Rakka Laotaner." It was a woman with turquoise eyes and light brown hair which was pulled back into a tight French braid. "I am afraid that your guide Ori Kunas is no longer available. I'm here in his stead to help you around the island and provide you with whatever you may need during your stay."

"Oh, thank you." Rakka felt ice build in her stomach. Ori was dead, she saw Riddick carry his body out the window to do away with.

"I'm sending up a selection for your breakfast. You can make your choices on the console you are currently using."

"Thank you."

"Would you like for me to send someone up to help you dress? And style your hair?"

"No, I…can do that. Thank you, though."

"Anything for your escort."

She glanced behind her at Riddick. He kept his eyes on the news vid and raised his coffee mug signaling he was fine.

"He's fine."

"If you need anything at all, just be sure to send for me. Julo Teria."

"Thank you, I will."

The console flicked off. Rakka turned to the menu with a selection of foods. "Riddick, what do you want?"

"Anything with meat."

She ordered two servings of bacon and eggs and for herself she ordered crescent rolls with cereal and bacon. The food arrived five minutes later, she and Riddick ate silently at the same table.

"Riddick…." She said softly as she broke apart her roll. "What….be honest with me…what would you have done, if it turned out I was pregnant last night."

Riddick bit into a piece of bacon, chewed, and swallowed. "Not go out the window."

Rakka looked down at her food and brought a piece to her mouth. "You don't strike me as the fatherly type."

"Neither do I." He replied.

"Do you….want children?"

"I can't have them." She looked up at him. He met her gaze and replied. "No, I ain't sterile. I mean that I _can't _have them."

She understood. He was a wanted man on the run. His life was dangerous and he never knew whether or not he was going to live to see the end of the day. What was the point in having children if you can't give them a normal, healthy life?

"If you were pregnant, then….I wouldn't run away. That ain't my style. I don't run from shit, not even from something as big as having a baby." Riddick continued. "I…don't know what I would do….but I wouldn't leave until….things was right."

She swallowed her food and stared at her hands. "We'll just have to prevent me from getting pregnant then."

"Yeah….I'll get more birth control pills later."

"No, I meant no more sex between us."

"Fuck."

"You mean no fuck. That's how it's going to be from now on."

* * *

She was adamant. No more was she going to risk it and have sex with Riddick. Condoms ripped and tore and sometimes birth control can fail…..can it? She still wasn't taking chances. The anxiety over the pregnancy kit still unnerved her when she remembered those horrible 30 seconds as she watched the test countdown to the results. Absentness is the way to go and she was going to stick with it until……what? Get married? Want children? Shit……

Riddick had too much control over her anyway. Since the night she met him he had the control. She wanted it back, she wanted herself……

She was in the shower and she leaned against the wall, letting the warm water slosh over her body. She closed her eyes and she could feel Riddick near her, his body heat, his large rough hands, his breath on her face, see his face, his hot mouth on her skin, and him pulsing inside her….he was a drug, a narcotic in her system. She tasted him twice and she wanted more….

_No, no, no he sold you. Sold you to pimps who sold you out as a whore to a fat rich man. And Riddick would have left you there if you hadn't have risked your life to escape. He was mean to you. He protected you last night…_

"They're not gonna touch you, Rakka."

_How much do you think he's gonna stay with you? He's probably just around to get a free meal and room. You're just attached to him because he's your first. Satisfy yourself. You don't need Riddick to feel good. _

Her hand dropped to her crotch. She tilted her head back against the shower wall and closed her eyes. It felt good….but it was so lacking, not as fulfilling as it was when Riddick did it. Her other hand closed over her left breast. Her hand was too soft and touched her too gently. Riddick's hand was roughen and hard, and it grasp her body possessively.

She whimpered in frustration. What would have satisfied her months ago only made her want what she knew she shouldn't have. Riddick.

When? When? When did this happen to her? What did Riddick do to her? He was a wanted and very dangerous man and she wanted him. She feared him and she wanted him. She hated him and she wanted him. No, not wanted….needed.

She had the birth control pills from the pimps……

She opened the shower door and saw the small purple purse with the lubricant, aphrodisiac mini-derms, and the pills. It was sitting, perched on the edge of the bathroom counter in full view. As if it was especially set out for her.

She took one and swallowed it with water from the facet. She towel off the best she could and left the bathroom. She entered the living room naked. Riddick was on the couch watching the news vid. He lifted his head and smirk. He had been expecting her.

* * *

She lay on her back on the couch, exhausted and basking in the afterglow of good sex. Riddick withdrew from her body and stood, disturbing her legs which had been over his thighs. He zipped up his pants and straightened his shirt. She curled onto her side feeling tugs of guilt at her dissolved resolution.

_"You took somethin'?"_

_"Yes, one of the pills from the purse."_

_"Good."_

Riddick headed around the couch toward the back where the brandy was kept. "I called up Julo and told her we're gonna go to the Temple by ourselves."

She sat up and wince as her fluids and Riddick's seed ooze from her body and got onto the couch. She should have brought a towel to lay on. "Do you know how to get there?"

"Temple is part of the Lika Family's land. Hop a shuttle, walk to the Liika compound and then walk to the temple. They don't allow any mechanical transports on 'holy' ground."

She got off the couch and headed toward the guest room, hissing in embarrassment as drops of their sex run down her legs. She half trotted into the bathroom and called, "You want to go this afternoon?"

"As soon as you get ready to go." He replied.

She took a quick shower to rinse off. She licked her lips as the water cascaded over her. Riddick had been quick and almost rough. She went to him and he had merely questioned her on the pill and then touched her to see if she was wet. She was from her earlier ministrations on her body. Then he simply lowered her onto the couch, unzipped his pants, and entered her. She missed the foreplay, but it seemed that Riddick was in a hurry to go onto the next phase of whatever was awaiting them.

* * *

Toombs followed the trail. It was easy enough to find the trail left behind by Helmer's 'collective' and follow where ever Riddick and the bitch had gone. To the planet Echo and they follow the particles left by the ship to a certain island. They landed in a public landing bay and asked around.

Toombs didn't pick up any leads until he visited a brothel where a certain Hitomian woman serviced. She was sweet in bed with her long blonde hair, bright emerald green eyes, and the lithe body and she was even sweeter when she told him about a certain special visitor that had the Temple in hype. A blue-violet eyed Hitomian woman, more likely a priestess, was coming from a lost family would take up residence in the Liika Family. The sweet little thing even told him where she believed the woman was staying.

Toombs got his crew together. He bribed a janitor to let them in the back and they approached the room, guns in hand.

Toombs leaned against the wall and listened. Nothing, but he knew from cold hard experience was that that it was never a good sign. He motioned forward.

Benny, his pilot, silently dashed forward passed the door and leaned on the wall beside the wall. Toombs held up three fingers, then two, then one…

Benny kicked the door open and spun out of the way of any trap or attack waiting. Toombs aimed his head and sighted. Nothing.

It was empty and the afternoon sun filter through the windows. Benny took point and they eased into the room, guns primed and ready for moving object.

"Check the rooms." Toombs hissed to Leonard, his gunner. Leonard headed to the guest room. He was gone for three minutes and he came out.

"Water on the floor is almost warm"

"Hey, boss, look at this." Robb, the idiot, motioned to the couch with his gun. "Stains. They had fun."

"Is that warm too?" Toombs sneered.

"Yeah."

"Goddamit, Robb!"

* * *

Rakka chose to wear a white robe with embroidered flowers from her right shoulder that cascaded down toward the hem at her left ankle. She wore white silk leggings underneath and leather shoes which was more durable for walking. She braided her hair into a tight braid that hung down her back. Riddick wore his pants, boots, and new silk shirt.

The city was bustling with activity with people shopping, coming to or coming from work, traveling, and whatnot. It was more open and held more life compared to the City. It made Rakka feel much more relaxed.

* * *

Toombs entered the bathroom to take a piss. They were missed, missed! By fifteen fucking minutes! Toombs knew he should have went to bed earlier not fucked that broad one more time. There was only one place where they may go and that was the Liika Family compound.

He decided to keep it low for now and just watch the area. He didn't want Riddick to know they were here, hunting him. It looked like Riddick already had some action last night, and not the kind in bed. There was a trailing blood stain from the hook on the wall in the main bedroom.

Toombs' sharp eyes spied something highly unusual in the trash can in the corner of the bathroom. A pregnancy kit box. He zipped his pants and took a glove from his pants pocket and slipped it on. He carefully took the box and realized that a used kit was inside. With his gloved hand he took out the kit and read the results. NOT PREGNANT.

Toombs licked his teeth and thought. He already knew that Riddick and the girl were fucking. Hell, if he ran around with that piece of ass he would be getting some whenever he could. However, who bought the kit? The girl, more likely……

What did it matter anyway? Toombs dropped the box and kit back into the trash. Not that it helped him or gave him anymore leads. Yet….somehow it meant something….it was a tingle at the base of his spine that made him the merc that he was.

* * *

Ahead Rakka could see a small little girl running. Running before her was a fluffy gray kitten running as fast as its small legs could carry it. The girl, possibly three years old, was running after it as fast her small legs could carry her. It was a race of youth.

The kitten charged toward Rakka. She knelt and caught it as it tried to dash passed her. It squirmed in her gentle grip and mew its protest. The little girl stopped running gasping for air. She was wearing a small version of the silk robes that Hitomians seem to favor except it was made of cotton and was cut short at the skirt for play. It was pink with embroidered pictures of small birds.

"Is this your kitty?" Rakka asked holding it out.

"Yes!" The child piped, her hands reaching out for the ball of fluff.

Riddick stood off to the side giving the exchange a glance and looking ahead of the street.

"Where are your parents?" Rakka asked. A girl this young shouldn't be alone on a city street.

"Over there." The child pointed to across the street. "Mommy is buying things."

"Did you cross the street all by yourself?" Rakka asked. She glanced at the heavy traffic.

The little girl nodded and grinned brightly. "I'm a big girl!"

Rakka noticed her eyes. Blue-violet, much like her own. She even had Rakka's hair color copperish blonde. They could easily be mistaken for mother and daughter. Rakka stared and Riddick stepped closer to get a better look at the child.

The child turned her attention to the towering form of Riddick. Rakka expected her to be afraid, but instead the little girl beamed and said, "Are you married to the nice lady?"

Riddick snorted.

"No, no, no, we're…." Rakka thought for a moment. What was she and Riddick? Definitely not lovers, not friends, not even partners. "We're travelers."

"Are you going to get married?" The girl asked. "Rafa is gonna marry Ori Kunas."

Rakka felt her blood chill. The scene of Riddick breaking Ori's fingers and carrying his body out the window came to her mind. Chills tingled up and down her spine. Riddick had resumed his gaze on the street ahead.

"I'm very happy for Rafa." Rakka replied hoping that she kept the strain from her voice. "What's your name?"

"Sunna!"

"Sunna? That's a pretty name."

"I want my kitty."

"Oh!" Rakka was still holding the kitten that had stopped squirming and was sloppily licking a paw. She handed the kitten into the small child's hands. "What's the kitty's name?"

"Mother Fucker." The child replied with a glowing smile.

Riddick choked and for the first time Rakka heard him laugh. Rakka sat back on her heels stunned. "Why would you name a kitten…that?"

"Loyal called her that when she pee peed on the floor." Sunna replied.

"Well…that's not a very nice name for a kitty." Rakka replied.

"I gotta go now. Bye bye." Sunna hugged her kitten close to her chest and trotted past Rakka.

Rakka stood and watched the child head toward a crossing. She furrowed her brow and wondered if she shouldn't walk Sunna across the street. Then….

"Mommy!" Sunna cried out and ran out in front of a cargo hover.

Rakka may or may not have screamed, she couldn't remember. A blur pasted her and she saw Riddick. It happened so fast and so slowly at the same time. The hover's engine screamed as it swerved. Riddick vaulted over the side walk railing and saw him move with almost inhuman speed. It appeared as if he scooped up the small child and the terrified animal in her arms and continued onward. The hover nearly clipped him.

When it was over, when it was finally over, Riddick was on the other side of the street with a shocked little girl and a yowling kitten in his arms. Rakka dashed across the street, almost getting hit and horns blaring at her. She ignored them and almost collapsed to her knees beside Riddick and the child.

Sunna had a stunned look on her face, her blue-violet eyes wide and tearful. Her cherub lips shook and the kitten in her hands yowl and clawed her arms. She yelped and started to cry. "Hurts! She hurt me!"

Her face screwed up and thick tears rolled down her cheeks. Rakka took the small child into her arms and held the small shaking body. Riddick had tiny claw marks on his upper arm and he held the kitten with one hand. The kitten hissed and Riddick made a sound which resembled a combination of a hiss and a growl and the kitten went limp, ts gold eyes wide.

Riddick studied his scratched arm and said, "The motherfucker got me too."

Sunna choked on a giggle and hovered against Rakka's chest. A small crowd had collected around them and a ragged scream rang out.

"SUNNA!"  
"Mommy!" Sunna screamed.

A Hitomian woman wrestled through the crowd. She wore a blue robe and her hair was pinned up. She dropped a bag she had been carrying and collapsed to her knees and took her daughter into her arms.

"Baby, where did you go? Where? I was looking for you!"

"My kitty got away." Sunna sobbed.

Rakka swallowed and said, "I'm afraid that Sunna almost had an accident. She was nearly hit by a hover."

"Oh God!" The woman moaned. Her face paled, her cerulean eyes wide. She held her daughter tighter. "Sunna is my family's Blessed child. If she…oh god, I was so afraid."  
The woman looked into Rakka's face and gasped. "You are Blessed too!"

"I have blue-violet eyes too." Rakka replied uneasily.

"You're Rakka Laotaner! You're on your way to my family's compound."

"You're a Liika!"

"Yes!" She turned her attention to Riddick. "Who is he? Your escort?"

"Uh…yes….he saved Sunna."

The woman turned to Riddick. "I am Sunna's mother, Io Liika. My grandmother, our family's Matriarch, will want to thank you formally in person." She swallowed. "Blessed children are followed and protected by a Blessed hand. To save a Blessed's life if to be Bless. You are a Blessed."

Riddick's eye brows arched. "I've been called a lot of things in my day. That ain't one of 'em."


	15. Noa

The compound was shaped into an oval. The grand walls curved around the city and a single mansion lay in the center. If one could see it from the air, the compound would resemble a large starring eye.

Liika Family was well known for providing silk. The north section of the compound was dedicated to farming mulberry plants for food and another part was dedicated to rearing silk worms and the cultivation of them. The south section contained the small family businesses, clothes shop, grocery, and entertainment shop. The West and East sections contained homes and the central building, the Mansion, held the Matriarch's family and served as the town hall.

The Mansion was huge and it was made of actual wood. Rakka was so amazed. She never been in a home made completely of wood before, it reminded her of the dormitory back on Haven.

She and Riddick were led to their room. It was no where near as grand as the suite in the city, but it was cozy. It contained a single bed with a bathroom. A small table with two chairs had been placed upon the rug incase they wanted to eat in their room. It even had two separate closets.

"Let me introduce you to Noa." Io said holding Sunna to her chest. The child had calmed down after her shock and her tear streaked face had been wiped clean. She hummed a soft song to herself, her legs around Io's waist. "Noa is my sister and she takes care of Grand Mother as her nurse."

She left Rakka and Riddick in a small dining room. Riddick took up a chair and reclined back into it with his goggles resting above his eyes.

"Well, what do you think?" She asked Riddick. Her arms were crossed, cradling her breasts. "Are we safe here?"

Riddick tilted his head and didn't answer. Rakka took it as a 'I don't know'.

"Rakka!" Sunna appeared at the doorway and she was holding the hand of a woman. Rakka stared.

She was so beautiful. She was pure Hitomian for that her eyes and hair were gray. Not the dingy ugly gray color, but a beautiful shade that reminded Rakka of old snow, no not old snow. Charcoal gray. Despite her gray hair, she was quite young, only a few years older than Rakka. Her face was clear and pale and her face structure was what any all women who seek out plastic surgery struggled to have. She was wearing a Hitomian robe, which was Charcoal gray matching her hair and eyes, and in it she looked desirable. This was the woman that attracted men's attention without even trying.

Rakka took a quick glance at Riddick. She couldn't see his eyes, but she knew they were on this woman. Whether it was wistful or animal lust, she couldn't tell. Rakka suddenly felt a well of dislike toward this woman for some unknown reason.

The woman smiled. It was a beautiful as the face it was attached to. "Please, make yourselves feel at home. I am Noa Liika. I believe you've already met my sister, Io, and her Blessed daughter, Sunna."

"Yes. I am Rakka Laotaner and this….Richard B. Riddick." It was hard to remember that he had a first name and Riddick was his surname.

"Io is preparing a light meal for you now." Noa squeezed Sunna's hand. "It's the very least we can do after what you did for Sunna." Noa turned and lifted Sunna into her arms and settled her on her hip. "As you yourself know, Rakka, Blessed children are so rare."

She walked across the room to Rakka. She smiled again, showing off white perfectly straight teeth. She held Sunna out and Rakka reflexively accepted the child. She placed an arm under Sunna's bottom while her other hand support her back.

"Raky!" Sunna beamed, her hands at the base of Rakka's neck.

"Hey, Suny." Rakka returned.

She jumped as a cool hand touched her jaw. She looked up and saw that Noa had placed a hand on her cheek and her other rested on her shoulder. She was standing close and her front brushed against Sunna's back. And her face was close…..a little too close……

Rakka swallowed.

Riddick raised an eyebrow.

"Lovely eyes. Truly a most Blessed one." Noa spoke. Rakka noticed that she was taller than her, a few inches, but enough to make Rakka have to tilt her head to look into her face.

The hand slid down Rakka's jaw, neck, and rested on her other shoulder, fingers trailing down her skin. Rakka felt heat rise…….strange, it resembled what she felt with Rid…..

Movement resounded from behind her and she felt a large callous hand touch her neck and slid over the slope of her neck and shoulder to slide Noa's hand off her shoulder and onto her upper arm. Riddick's hand covered Noa's other hand on her other shoulder and they stood there like that.

Rakka glanced at the interlocked hands at her right shoulder. They were touching each other. She swallowed and she suddenly felt angry toward the beautiful woman in front of her and the lustful man behind her. They were made for each other.

Rakka kept her eyes on Sunna's innocent face and didn't see the look of disdain pass between Riddick and Noa' eyes.

* * *

Toombs was surprised to see the emerald eye prostitute waiting for him in his motel room in the lower part of the city. She wore a very revealing version of a Hitomian robe. It was opened to reveal the valley between her breasts and was slit at the sides to reveal a slim waist and trim hips enough to let you know she wasn't wearing underwear.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

She grinned, her eyes sparkled and she stood from the bed. "I was sent to give you a message."

Toombs glanced over her body and said, "A message I'll like?"

"A message from my father…..Chural Kunas." The woman replied. "He wants to speak with you on the matter of the Blessed Rakka Laotaner and Richard B. Riddick."

Toombs cursed softly. He pulled up a chair and set his gun on the table. "Tell your pop that if he thinks sendin' your sweet little ass down here can keep me from collectin' on the bounties, he's shit out of luck."

"Actually, my father is not warning you away. He wants to hire you to retrieve them for him. But not for the same reason as the reason the bounties was placed on them, of course."

Toombs studied her face. "I'm listenin'."

"My father will give you full details if you agree to attend a meeting with him tomorrow at the Lousa inn, his building. You are allowed to bring as many men and weapons as you see fit to feel safe, but rest assure, my father seeks business and an agreement with you. Not harm."

"And does dear old daddy sends his little girl to offer business deals?" Toombs asked.

"Actually, I'm his illegitimate child. One of 67 for now. I believe I may have a half-sister due soon."

"Goddamn!" Toombs whistled through his teeth. "Tell gramps that if he wants to deal with me, he better have enough to…."

At that moment the woman reached into a small packet at her hip. Toombs hand landed on his gun and aimed it toward her heart, finger at the trigger. "Slowly bitch….real slow."

The woman had frozen when the gun charged up. Then she carefully, making her movements well known, she took out a small envelope. She placed it on the table and pushed it toward Toombs. It scuttled across the tabletop. He caught it and with his eyes on her, he opened it with one hand. It was a check card U.D. with the amount on the side.

His eyes arched, his eyes wide. He swallowed. "Is this fuckin' real?"

"It is very, very important that my father attain the Furyan and the Blessed Child alive and unharmed. It is very vital not only to him, but to those of Kunas blood and name. He is offering you this amount and me if you will willingly meet with him tomorrow." She leaned forward almost across the table. "When he has what he wants from them, he assures you that you will have them to do with as you wished."

Toombs swallowed and tilted his head. The woman smiled and began undo the seal at the base of her throat. The robe slid off her body as smoothly as water pouring from a stream. It was true, she wore no underwear.

Toombs stood, keeping his hand on the gun he made his way around the table. He touched her back and ran his hand down her spine to her bottom. He placed the gun on the table and used both hands on her ass to lift her onto the table and pushed her onto her back, his pelvis between her thighs.

"So, sugar, got a name?" He began to undo his belt.

"Lilia."

"Nice."

* * *

Rakka set the used dishes outside on the tray as Io instructed when they were through eating. Riddick was sitting at the table watching a news vid. She figured that he watched the news so much was to see if there was a hunt out for him.

"You really made an impression when you saved that little girl's life." Rakka commented.

Riddick didn't reply, but kept his silver eyes on the vid screen.

"Do you think we'll be attacked again?"

"Maybe."

"Riddick…..Can I ask you a question?"

"Nothin' stoppin' ya."

"Why are you still here?"

"What?" He turned his eyes from the vid to. "I got another room somewhere?"

"No, I mean why you are still with me?" Rakka replied. "I would think someone like you would….get away as soon as you can. You tried twice before. And don't tell me that you can't get a ship. I know you can get one if you truly wanted to. Why did you come with me here? What reason do you have to remain with me…..?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

She felt her throat constrict. _Yes, I_ _want you to leave. You scare me, hurt me, insult me, treat me badly, and you have so much control over me that it terrifies me. No, I don't want you to leave. You've actually protected me, you're so desirable that you make my mouth hurt when I think of you, I depend on you so much that it scares me too. _

None of that was spoken; all she could say was…. "It's really up to you. I can't stop you from leaving or staying. You know that better than I do."

"You didn't answer me."  
"Do you want to leave?" She questioned.

"Answer me first."

"I'm….scared for you to leave." She said softly. "I….really don't want you in my life anymore. You scare me and we haven't exactly been friends...aside from the sex….You sold me. I'm never going to forget that. You sold me to people who….sells girls to be mutilated by sick people. And that terrifies me that you could so easily do that to me. So yes, I do want you to leave, but….I'm scared for you to leave. I know it sounds selfish and cowardly, but I'm scared to be without you. People are out there to hurt me and…I don't want to go to a Slam. So…I am using you. Using you the way you used me to steal a ship from Helmer and used me to escape from the mercs on Haven. And the way you use me for sex."

Riddick studied her face and she studied his. His face was hard to read, but she knew he was thinking.

"Yeah, I did use you to outrun the mercs and get off Haven." Riddick leaned back in the chair, making it creak. "And I might use you again. You're smart….I gotta give you that. You're hell of a light brighter than whole bunch of people I've ran into. You actually see me."

"I see you are a bad man, Riddick." She replied. "I know you are no hero, nor do you want to be one. But I also know that….you are bad and dangerous, but you're not cruel and….you're almost fair in your own way." _You protected me and you saved Sunna's life…are you really that bad? I just don't know, but I don't trust you. But I do trust you enough to sleep with you._

Maybe the conversation would have continued. Maybe they would have reached a conclusion on their relationship. Maybe they have had revelations about themselves, but they never came. Someone interrupted.

"Rakka, I brought you some fresh clothes for tomorrow." Noa entered the room without knocking.

She stopped when she felt the tension between Rakka and Riddick. "Oh, forgive me, was I interrupting anything?"

"Oh, no." Rakka replied quickly. "It was nothing. We were just talking."

"I apologize. I brought you something to sleep in and some clothes for tomorrow." She held out a bundle of clothes toward Rakka.

"Thank you, you are so kind." Rakka reached out for the clothes. She noticed that Noa caressed the back of her hands as she cupped the bottom of the bundle as the clothes were exchange.

Riddick had leaned forward in his chair, arms on the table, with his eyes on Noa. Rakka saw him and she felt something angry stir. _Alright, fine, Noa was beautiful, but you don't have to pounce on her in front of me._

A thought occurred to her. Is Riddick going to go after Noa now? So far the only available woman to him had been her. Now that he's in a compound full of available woman and this beautiful lady before them….what's to make her think that he's going to be satisfy just with her.

Noa was beautiful, simply beautiful. Any man would want her, especially a man like Riddick. She could feel it that he wanted her, hell she could taste it. Then again, what did it matter to her…who was she to have him tied down to her. Didn't she say no more than a minute ago that she wanted him gone from her life….the only reason why she wants him around is for protction. Riddick may stick around, but it looks like the sex ends. Not that she wanted to continue having sex with him. He's more than welcome to move on with someone else.

An image of Noa and Riddick entangled in each other's arms flashed across her mind's eye and she felt her eyes blur.

"Rakka, are you alright?" Noa asked. There was touch at her chin.

Rakka tilted her head away and said, "Oh, it's nothing. I'm just tired. I think I'll shower and go to bed."

"Do you need me to help you?" Rakka halted in turning and stared at Noa. Noa offered a smile and said, "I mean to wash your back and braid your hair for sleeping. Just trying to make you feel welcome in our home."

"I'm fine. I don't need any help." Rakka replied. "Good night."

She left the room and entered the bathroom. She knew that Noa and Riddick were sizing each other up for sexual partners.

Noa and Riddick were sizing each other up. But not as sex partners for each other…..sex partners for Rakka.

"She deserves better, you dirty murderous savage." Noa said coolly.

Riddick leaned back in the chair and smirked. "You want her, go get her."

"I'm not like you. I won't be rude and intrude on her. That's something of your caliber."

"She's never complained." Riddick shrugged. "She's always full and satisfied. With you….she may find 'lacking'." He motioned toward Noa's crotch.

Noa's face flushed with furious red, tarnishing her ethereal features. "Bastard."

"Maybe." Riddick pushed himself from the chair. "I think I'll help Rakka in the shower. I could wash her back and she could wash mine."

Noa's left eye twitched. She glared bloody hatred at Riddick as he walked across the room, simply opened the bathroom door and stepped inside.

"Riddick!" Rakka's voice resounded with surprise and….relief.

Noa swallowed, turned, and left the room.

* * *

She was standing in the shower when Riddick walked into the bathroom as if she wasn't there.

"Riddick!" He wasn't out there with Noa. She felt so relieved and happy.

Riddick stripped off his shirt and undid his belt.

"Riddick, wait, the pills!"

Riddick had pushed his pants down to his thighs, revealing his hardening length. He removed the purple purse from his pocket in his pants leg and flipped it open with his thumb. "Two left. I'll get more."

Rakka reached out for the purse which Riddick handed to her. She took one and downed it with warm water from the showerhead. Riddick entered the shower with her, wearing nothing but his goggles. She tossed the purse toward the sink's counter, not caring if it lands on the counter or not.

"If it's too bright, we can dim the lights some more." She said as she pressed against the wall to give him room. The shower was small, enough room for three people to squeeze together, but with her small frame and Riddick's large frame, they couldn't move without touching….which was fine with them.

"It's fine." Riddick replied. Water which had cascaded over Rakka's body was blocked by Riddick's tall body and broad shoulders. Twin waterfalls seeped over his collarbones and washed over his chest. Water was rivuleting over his combination of muscle, flesh, skin, and tones and splashed at their feet.

She placed her hands at his chest and leaned forward. She placed her mouth on his flesh and kissed and licked him. She didn't know why she liked doing this. She must have a chest fetish for men or something. Riddick's chest, to her seem, seemed to beg to be kissed and felt with her mouth. And she enjoyed it. And she supposed that Riddick did too for that he let her each time she did it.

Riddick's hands slid down her back and grasped her bottom. He lifted her up and settled her legs around his waist. She shifted a little uncomfortable from being lifted without warning. She felt more secure when Riddick pressed her back against the wall and leaned forward, but not too much to crush her. Even holding her like this, she had to tilt her head upward to see his face.

She felt her body slid downward and felt him probing her opening. Then slowly, he steadily lowered her onto his length. She inhale air and thought, isn't this too fast. Is he already ready to penetrate her and be done with this? What happened to the first time? When they had left the abandoned school? They had kissed, caressed each other had foreplay. The second time, she, though she wasn't very good, had given him a blowjob and he had licked her clitoris, and there had been kissing and touching too.

The last time….had been too quickly also. It was good, but….she had thought that he was in a hurry and wanted the sex over with….but, this despite the warm water, felt cold.

He filled her as she took him in. Riddick rocked back on his heels and began to move within her.

"Riddick?" She said softly. "Am I….why are you hurrying through this…..?"

"Mmmmm." He slurred. His chin had been propped on top of her head and he lifted his to look down at her.

"Why are you jumping….to penetration already?" She said, she closed her eyes as Riddick stroked a particular spot inside her. She had to work to concentrate on what she wanted to say.

"Don't like it this way?" Riddick asked.

It did feel a little uncomfortable. Her back pressing against the wall and the unsecured feel of being off the ground and the creeping doubts. She became afraid to tell him what was really on her mind.

"I….don't feel comfortable like this."

"Like being on your back?"

"Ye…yeah." She admitted softly.

He withdrew from her body and lowered her onto her feet. She instantly missed him inside her and that scared her. Was he such a drug in her system that….she felt that MUST have him. It scared her so bad that she trembled.

When did he have so much control over her? How? When? Why? Why did she LET him gain so much control? It happened so fast and without her realizing it. Did he know what he did to her? Of course, he knows. Of course he does, he's….Riddick. Suddenly the heat she felt toward him turned cold. She didn't feel like having sex after all.

Riddick had a firm grip on her shoulder and guiding her out of the bathroom toward the bed. This would be a first, sex on the bed. She imagined curled up in the sheets, his body spooning hers. She felt stirrings of….no…..it needed to stop….it had to stop now.

But how to say no? How to tell Riddick no after she had let him penetrate her earlier in the bathroom? He was already erect and ready to take her as soon as she was positioned on the bed. It might be a good idea just to take it for now and just not ever let him again.

She lowered herself backwards onto the bed and Riddick was parting her thighs with his hands when…..

"Rakka! Rakka! Can I sleep with you?" A high yells resounded along with beats on the door.

"Sunna?" She said, leaning up.

Riddick placed a hand on her shoulder, his breathing still deep from the aftermath of entering her in the shower. "Ignore her. Let her play with Mother Fucker."

"Did you lock the door?" Rakka asked.

No reply.

"Rakka! Let me in!" There was a rattle as a small child struggled to reach for the door knob.

"Riddick, get off me before she comes in and we scar her for life!" She hissed shoving him.

Riddick growled low in his throat. He got off her and headed to the bathroom. She wrapped a blanket around herself and snatched a robe from the closet. She shrugged into it and headed to the door.

It opened and Sunna nearly stumbled and fell from reaching so high. She gave Rakka an angry look with her blue-violet eyes. "You wouldn't let me in!"  
"I'm sorry. I was taking a bath and didn't hear you."

"I want to sleep with you tonight!"  
_And so does Riddick. _"Is it alright with your mother?"

Sunna gave a surprised wide eye look. "I don't know."

"Go ask your mother first."

"No!"

"Sunna, I don't feel comfortable letting you sleep with me unless it's alright with your mother. I don't want her to get scared if you're missing from your bed and think someone stole you."  
"But I wanna sleep with you tonight!"

"If your mother says it's alright."  
"I wanna sleep with you!" Sunna's voice started to crack as if she would start a fit.

Rakka crossed her arms over her chest. Sami had been a crybaby, but he wasn't….like this.

"How about I ask your mother?" Rakka said. She took Sunna's hand. "We'll go together."

"NO!" Sunna began to pull away.

"Yes." Rakka replied. Io was going to get a report about this child's behavior. "Riddick, I'll be right back!"

Sunna screamed. It was a high pitch scream that hurt your ears and sent pins through your shoulders. She dropped as if her legs gave out and was held up only by Rakka's grip on her hand.

"Sunna, if you are going to scream then I'm going into the bathroom with Riddick until you stop."

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"

Rakka released her hand and walked to the bathroom. Riddick had pulled on his pants and saw Rakka simply shut and lock the door behind her.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I may have to deal with the bullshit you put me through, but I will NOT take shit from a brat not even half my age." Rakka said in a stiff tone.

"You're just gonna let her scream like that?" Riddick asked and sat on the toilet.

"She'll stop when she realizes that screaming like that will not get her way with me or until her throat goes out. Doesn't matter to me." Rakka replied dryly.

"Sunna, princess, what's wrong?" Io voice spoke.

Rakka opened the door to see Io cradling a cry Sunna. "She….barged in and wanted to sleep with me tonight. I told her she would have to ask you first and she….didn't want to."

"Why did you let her cry so?" Io asked, her eyes accusingly.

"Because she was not going to her way with me by acting like….a screaming baby."

"She is a baby." Io said stiffly. "There was no need for you to be mean to her…She just wanted to sleep with you tonight why was that so bad."

"Io, Riddick and I was…..being…..you know…." Rakka's voice trailed off.

Io's eyes widen. "I…I am so sorry. I didn't know. Oh, this is so embarrassing."

"Well….yeah." Rakka replied. In truth, she wouldn't have minded have Sunna sleep with her, it just was that she didn't want to frighten Io in the morning and offend her by hiding her child from her. When Sunna started to throw a fit, it made Rakka angry.

"I apologize for her behavior. She's never slept by herself before." Io explained.

"You mean she's never slept in her own bed before? She's three years old."

Io looked away embarrassed. "Again I apologize. We usually let her choose who she wants to sleep with and let her go knock at their door. You must be the first to turn her away."

"I see." Rakka replied. "I'm flattered, but she can't tonight."

"I understand. I'll take her back to my room. Again, I apologize."

Io left cradling a tearful Sunna close to her chest. Rakka shut the door and this time made sure it was locked.

Riddick emerged from the bathroom. He had donned his shirt and boots. Without a word to him she went to closet. She felt his eyes burn her back as she slipped out of the robe and nude she stepped into a pair of panties and pulled on the silken nightgown. The gown was sleeveless and the skirt came down midway of her calves.

A dresser with a mirror and brushes were available. She sat down and went to the task of brushing and braiding her hair. She could see Riddick watching her in the mirror. She concentrated on her hair as if it was the most important thing to her at that moment. After she brushed out the wet tangles, she placed a band at the edge of the dresser in reach and went to work lacing her hair into one braid.

"What?" She had to finally ask. She had braided her hair midway and had looped her hair over her shoulder to finish it up. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Thought you would want to finish what was started in the shower." He replied and tilted his head.

"Well, Sunna sure put a damper on things." Rakka replied. "I….I'm tired right now. I just want to sleep." She looked at him. "You got dressed quick for someone who wanted to continue."

"I need to go somewhere. Thought we would do a quickie and then I go."

"You mean with my clothes off and you just unzipping your pants and using me like you would use a toilet." Rakka said stiffly. "No thank you. I'm…not….I don't like it that way."

"You didn't complain last time."

"I…Riddick…." She swallowed. It was time to step into the icy cold creek. "I don't think we should continue to have sex anymore."

"You sang that tune before."

"This time I mean it." She finished her braid and twisted a band around the end. "I hate you and I know you hate me."

"Sweetheart, if I hated you…really hated you….you wouldn't be breathing right now."

It sent chills down her spine and she swallowed. "Anyway…..I don't want to have sex with you anymore. So….I'm not going to bother you and you don't bother me."

"Alright."

She turned in her seat and looked at him. "Alright?"

"Alright. You don't want to have sex with me. Fine." Riddick headed toward the door.

"That….that doesn't bother you?"

"You're not the only female now." Riddick replied casually. He said it as a fact. Not to wound, not retaliate, not to be smart. He was simply stating a simple fact that she herself admitted mentally not too long ago.

It shouldn't. It shouldn't. It shouldn't have….but….it did…..so much……it hurt as if he had punched her in the stomach. She felt her throat constrict and her eyes blear.

"Well….you're not the only male…." She fought to keep her voice steady.

She expected Riddick to keep walking and go through the door. He paused with his hand on the handle. He turned his head and looked at her. She looked back at him, praying that he couldn't see the welling tears. He shrugged his broad shoulders and unlocked the door and stepped out and shut the door behind him.

A sound of rage resounded from her lips and she threw the brush at the door. It hit the wood with a bang and fell to the floor. She felt hot tears slip over her cheeks which she violently wiped away.

She hated him. She hated him. She hated him. She buried her face into her hands. Why? Why was she crying over him? Why? She got what she wanted! It turned out easier than she thought. She had expected him to yell, cuss at her, threaten her, and even hit her, but not…..not so willingly accept it. Like it was no big deal. She might as well have told him that they weren't going to be able to eat steak tonight the way he said, 'alright'.

She felt used. He had sex with her because she was the only available female. He said it himself with 'you're not the only female now'. She hoped he wouldn't come back….she prayed he wouldn't come back.

She slept fitfully, tossing and turning. She had dreams about him. Him touching her and hurting her. She would wake up in a sweat and expect to feel him on her, but he wasn't there beside her in bed. Like he never was and would never be. He may have been kinder to her if he had killed her.

* * *

"Io, you really shouldn't spoil your daughter." Noa said from the lounge chair. "She mustn't make such a fuss whenever she doesn't get her way."

"She is not spoiled, sister." Io returned haughtily. She had rocked Sunna to sleep and laid on her on her bed. She exited the bedroom to see her older sister occupying the lounge chair. "Errol is not going to like you sitting in his seat."

Noa sniffed. "I don't see how your husband, who had to _marry _into the Liika family is to keep me, _the next family head, _from occupying whatever place I want."

Io glared at her sister. "Just because you have a great dislike for men, don't make the women who do, miserable. Blessed Rakka Laotaner has a liking for men….Her escort, Riddick….."

"You say another word and I will slap the hell out of you." Noa almost snarled, her beautiful features twisting in a feral face.

"Better get use to it. If it turns out that Blessed Rakka Laotaner is the Mother and Riddick is the Father they are going to be…." She never finished what she wanted to say for that Noa leapt from her chair and the palm of her hand smashed against Io's face. Io lost her balance and fell against the opposite chair, the side of her face an angry pink.

"You little wretch…" Noa snarled standing over her younger sister. "Don't you _ever _speak that way to your elder sister."

"Forgive me, sister." Io replied softly, remaining on the floor.

"It's your fault that Blessed Sunna almost perished today. I told you not to take her into town!"

"She was crying." Io replied. "I can't stand for her to cry."

"You're pathetic." Noa snarled. "It is a good thing I was the first born or else this whole compound will go up in flames because you can't stand to see your little brat cry for lack of warmth."

"How dare you speak of a Blessed child that way!" Io snapped getting to her feet. "You may have gotten away with many things, Noa, but blasphemy! Grand Mother will not stand for that!"  
"Blessed Rakka Laotaner is a more suitable Blessed Child than Sunna. Better get use to the idea that Sunna is no longer the only little princess around here." Noa sneered. "I bet Errol is steaming with rage that his hold on the Liika family is loosing its grip."

"Blessed Rakka Laotaner is not part of the family…Nor do we know whether or not she's the Mother. Sunna could still…."

"Don't be a little idiot! What other proof do you need? Rakka Laotaner is a Blessed Child of child rearing age. And she comes to us with a Furyan male, the Father! The day of the Birth of God is closer than we thought."

"I see what goes on inside your head." Io dared. "You expect Rakka to turn to you. You see yourself raising the Holy Blessed Child with Rakka by your side. Not only do you get to satisfy your craving of female flesh, you get to boost yourself beyond Head of the Family to Godlike status."

"Rakka is beautiful. Her eyes….hair, face, body…..all of it wasted by being used by that ugly man!"

Io ran a finger tip along the edge of the back of the chair. "I find him quite attractive…..very attractive. I've had my thoughts….sinful thoughts."

Noa felt bile rose to the back of her throat. She always found the male body disgusting. With predominate muscles like an ape, a disgusting limb like penis, and rough skin. Men were selfish, rapist, thieves, they took and took and took and gave nothing back.

The female body was smooth, with soft curves that were easy to look at. Women were nurturers, care givers, givers….nothing like men. The thought of Riddick's large body atop of Rakka's small petite frame……made Noa's body shake with a blistering rage.

She raked her nails on Io's arm making her yelp. "You filthy disgusting traitor."

"Sister?"

She slapped Io across the face again and pulled her hair. Io clawed her hands to get away, but Noa pulled hard until she tore a clump of hair from Io's scalp. She kicked her and Io tumbled onto the floor. Noa pounced on her and began slapping, hitting, spitting, and scratching Io to alleviate her rage.

Only then, when her hands stung from slapping and her arms tire from wrestling with Io, did she stop. She stood, her hair disheveled and her palms pink. She straightened her robe and hair.

Io remained on the floor sobbing. Her hair tangled her face red, and her lip bleeding. She even bore scratches alone her arm and along her cheek. Her chest rose and fell as each shuddering sob.

Noa walked out of the room leaving her sister on the floor.


	16. Info

The bar was dim, just the way he liked it. It was in the deeper, darker parts of the island where anything goes.

As he entered the bar through the sliding doors, he felt the eyes. Eyes sizing him up for different things. Easy prey, easy fuck, easy to trick, easy to mug, easy to….whatever that could be in sick minds.

He chose a stool away from what little light there was. He perched on the stool and ordered a drink. As the bartender arranged his drink, he lifted his goggles to scan the room. To see if there was one who could give him information.

There was no Hitomians here….no….he saw one. It was in the form of a girl perched on the knee of a man. The girl was young, possibly in her teens. She wore a blue one piece dress that came down to mid thigh. He could see fresh bruises on her arms and legs. It was obvious she was the man's who was had her on his knee and one arm hooked over her shoulder and had a grip on her breast….his bitch…..or possibly hired hooker. The girl had a dread fill look in her fearful eyes. Like she was dead or dying inside. He's seen that look in the faces of any woman unfortunate enough to be in a Slam. Hell, he even saw men with that look too.

The bartender set his drink on the counter and Riddick placed a few UD chips on the table. While the bartender scooped them up, Riddick got a bead on another woman approaching him from behind.

A prostitute, who was probably hoping to make a little extra money tonight, he knew what she was for that he could smell the sex clinging to her skin and clothes. He could even tell how many men had used her earlier. 16. She has been one very busy slut.

"Hey, sugar." She said in a husky voice. A small hand with long fingernails slid up his shoulder and to the back of his neck. She leaned against his thick arm and blew against his jaw. "Wanna buy me a drink? I'm kinda thirsty."

Riddick enjoyed the touch. He was still aroused from Rakka in the shower. He looked the woman in the face. She wasn't a Hitomian. She wore too much makeup, her lips lathered with red lipstick and her eyes covered in blue eye shadow and penciled with eye liner. Her hair was red and curly, but it wasn't natural, he could see dark roots at her scalp. She wore an open dress that revealed the valley between her breasts, her stomach, and her pelvis, but it came together right above her crotch area, but it was low enough to let you know she was shaven.

"Like what ya see, sugar?" She asked.

"Get your hand out of my pocket before I break it." Riddick replied coolly.

The woman retrieved her hand from his pocket where it had groped for a wallet. She glared at him and said, "Fuck you. Your loss."

She stalked away and Riddick continue gazing at the girl on the man's knee. The bartender stepped forward, swabbing at a glass. "Never seen you around here before?"

"Passin' through." Riddick replied.

"First time I seen someone brush off Belina."

"Ain't my type."

"And that girl who's sittin' on Mial's knee is. Lemme tell ya, he paid good money for that one and he ain't into loaning."

Riddick turned his gaze to him. "Sellin' people around here?"

"Yeah. Especially women….Hitomian women. That girl yer plottin' on, she's probably a bastard child from one of their 'families'. She must be half Hitomian. Her daddy a norm and her mama a Hitomian whore. If she is pure Hitomian then that must mean she's from the Kunas family. Biggest bunch of bastards in this part of the planet."

"Kunas sell their own?"

"Any that they deem dispensable, ya know. One thing newbies like you don't know is that the Hitomian race is mostly women, very few men."

Riddick's eyes arched. He's only seen one male Hitomian and that was Ori Kunas. The other men he had with him when he attacked Rakka and he was norms. And possibly there was another that he heard of. Loyal who named the kitten MotherFucker. "That's interestin'."

"Yeah. Ya see whenever a Family has too many, they marry off or sell off the weakest, useless, or the one with the less family blood to norms. You'll never see a Hitomian man being someone's bitch."

Riddick sipped his drink and licked his lips. "You know a lot about this shit."

The bartender shrugged. "You live on an island full of Hitomian skanks and not learn a thing or two about them."

"What do you know about the Liika Family?"

"Same as any other family, except they are the biggest and as another plus they have the Hitomian temple on their land. Hitomians are religious freaks. Talkin' about Blessed children, sacred seers, some child who's going to unit their home world again."

"Their homeworld." Riddick leaned forward.

"Ever heard of that warrior race." The bartender leaned forward too. "Furyans? They got wiped out decades ago by some race…..I guess. Anyway, the Hitomian home world was in the same solar system as theirs. Whatever took out the Furya also took out Hitomi. From what I was told from a few Hitomian skanks who was told by their parents, that Furya was attacked first. Then the Hitomians began evacuations while the attacking fleet headed in their direction. Now they're spread out all over the universe. You see some important familes now and then, but the one family….the one family that they all grieve for is…..What was it? I can't remember. It was the royal family."

The bartender thought for a moment. "The royal family was important because it was believed that when the planet Hitomi goes up in smoke that the royal family would have some sort of daughter who was gonna give birth to some sort of holy moly kid or somethin'. Fucked up thing is that the daddy was gonna be a Furyan. Not just any Furyan though this motherfucker was gonna be the baddest motherfucker of the Furyans. Anyway…..it's just a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo bullshit made of by a bunch of thong wearing sluts."

Bartender turned and took up a bottle of whiskey and took a deep swig. "Sorry, when I talk too much, my throat goes dry. Oh, yeah….that royal family name is Laotaner. Whoever the survivor of that family is probably some kinda princess or king or some shit like that."

Riddick was very quiet.

"Gotta go. Got other thirsty customers and I'm sure you heard enough about bright eye skanks."

Riddick turned his attention to the girl on Mial's knee. He downed his drink and pushed himself away from the bar. He walked over to the pair.

He wrapped his fingers around the girl's arm and tugged her off Mial's knee. "You're comin' with me." She nearly fell as he tugged her away.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Mial snarled as he leapt to his feet. He wore leather. Leather pants and a leather jacket over a jerkin. He whipped out a blade from his waist band. "That cunt is mine, bitch."

The girl whimpered with fright as Riddick nudged her to the side, but not too far from his reach. Mial slashed forward and Riddick smoothly caught his wrist and spun him around, clasping his back to his chest. He pressed the blade that Mial held to his throat. People shouted and a woman screamed, but it wasn't the girl. "Tonight, that cunt is mine. You can have what's left in the morning."

Mial glared bloody murder at Riddick and then…… "You're gonna pay for her, right?"

"I'll pay." Riddick replied. He shoved Mial away. "500 UDs. I'm in need of a hard fuck tonight."

Mial's glare of which was planning of vengeance later on, waved away to apprehension of attaining a large amount of money. "Fine, but I get her back. In one piece alright. I don't want her missin' anythin'."

"I like my women whole."

"What the fuck you fuckers lookin' at?" Mial snarled at onlookers as he snatched the UD chips from Riddick's hand. "We talkin' business, get outta here!"  
The girl was tearfully watching them and yelped when Riddick seized her arm and took her with him to the bar. He tossed down money for a room and continued upstairs with his purchase in tow.

He could smell the girl's fear, it added to his arousal. He didn't usually go after another man's woman. He did a few times in the slams, whenever his body ached for sex that he was willing to kill to possess a living body beneath his.

He slid his hand up her arm to and to cup her shoulder to nudge her forward. He opened the door and urged her to go in first. By this time, the girl looked as if she would panic. Her body began to quiver with terror and incoherent sobs escaped her lips.

She was fresh. Only man to ever taken her had to have been Mial. Riddick locked the door behind him, she collapsed. She began sobbing and crying, she slid down to her knees and cried.

This took Riddick back. Back to Carolyn, the first Carolyn who had sobbed when he proposed she go with him instead of going back for the stragglers. Jack, who had cried when he left her on New Mecca. And now to Rakka. She cried a lot. Women cried around him.

"You're from the Kunas family, right?"

The girl choked. "Y…..yes….."

"What do you know about them?"

* * *

The island was once occupied by just the Liika family, almost a hundred years ago. The Liika had, for the first time in who knows how long, a male as Family Head. He was so for that he was the eldest son of the previous Family Head.

He married during his ruling years and while his wife was pregnant, he died from disease. Since the unborn child was the only possible heir, everyone was going to name the child the Family Head when he/she was born. The child was a girl and she was named Silla, who is now presiding over the Liika family at the age of 98.

Everything was going as it should, until when Silla was four years old, her aunt stepped forward saying that she was pregnant with the true family head.

Silla's father had wanted to improve men's standing in Hitomian society. He made a will stating that if by any chance that there was a son of his blood, that that child, no matter the age would inherit the position. Also, Silla's father was not exactly faithful to his wife and often visited her sister.

It seems that Silla's aunt had preserved a sperm sample during a nightly romp and had used it to artificially inseminate herself. She had spent the four years at a clinical lab trying to ensure that she would have a son and not a daughter by changing the genetics of the sperm.

Her plan came into fruition and she gave birth to a boy. Things were being arranged to give family head to Silla's half brother Chural Liika, But Silla's mother appealed to the temple and the temple's seer announced that the Holy Sight does not recognize artificial insemination as natural birth. The only holy pregnancies recognize was the sex between man and woman to impregnation. Anything from invitro fertilization to surrogacy was not recognized by the temple.

Thus Chural and his mother cast out of the Liika Family in shame and took the name Kunas as their surname. It's not known how the Kunas attained their riches. Some say that Chural's mother married into the fortune or she prostituted her body out to the rich and saved the money. But when his mother died, Chural Kunas inherited a large sum of money. He began to create his own Family. He married a Hitomian woman and initiated any who would join the Kunas name.

Steadily, while he was gaining power within the city, a feud was rising between the Liikas and the Kunas. Both claiming right to the Liika's riches and the land around the Temple.

When Sunna, the currant Blessed child was born to the Liika's, the feud began to simmer down. It was believed that she was to be the Blessed child foretold who would give birth to the one who would bring back the planet Hitomi. True, the woman was supposed to be from the Royal Family, but it was gone. No survivors and they hoped that the Sight would deem it fit to allow Sunna to be the Blessed Mother and would send the Blessed Father to her when she comes of age.

The feud was set aside and Silla tried to encourage peace between the Families by arranging a marriage between Rafa Liika and Ori Kunas, which didn't work out because Ori Kunas was found dead in the ocean with his hand broken and neck broken. Some believe that it could have been done by people who hated the Kunas family. The Kunas family prospered from gambling, prostitution, and other illegal activities which the police over looked from bribes.

Then…..the feud returned when it was spoken that a royal member of the Royal Family still lived. Not just any Royal Member, but a Blessed Child. A Royal Blessed Child was considered the most sacred of the Blessed Children. It was rare, truly rare for anyone of the Royal Family to be born with blue-violet eyes. They were considered as holy as the image of God. They heard the name when their was a bounty sent out throughout the Green system for a Rakka Laotaner. Princess Rakka Laotaner, daughter of Prince Luac Laotaner, son of Queen Pllao Laotaner who died in the travesty taken place on Hitomi. Traveling with the Princess was a Furyan male, the Blessed father, who goes by the name Richard B. Riddck.

* * *

It didn't look good. It wasn't good and Riddick knew it wasn't good. By somehow being involved with Rakka, he fell into a hole which he was going to have to fight to get out of.

He had always been hunted. Either for wealth by Mercs, or for power and dominantion by inmates. Or over stupidity by any drunk or hothead or bully dumb enough to try and take him in a brawl. But this….was fucking screwed up.

Now he was some sort of religious figure and Rakka was a goddamn lost holy princess. He was fucking royalty and didn't know it. She wasn't just a pain, she was a royal pain.

He left the girl to sleep on the bed alone. He didn't fuck her for that the information he attained was like ice cold water washing over him completely destroying his hard-on. Things were going to get very ugly soon and he had to get ready.

* * *

Rakka woke up that morning. She rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes and was surprise to see Riddick lounging on the lounge chair, his eyes on her.

_Please, don't let him know that I cried over him last night. Please..._

"Have fun?" She asked as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

"Sure did, princess." Riddick returned. She glared at him. How dare he? Ooh, she hated him.

"I'm glad." She replied stiffly.

"Tell me somethin' about your folks."

"My parents?" She stared at him. "Why do you want to know about them?"

"Indulge me." Riddick replied.

She shrugged. What harm could it do? "Well, my parents met while evacuating Hitomi. Something bad happened on Hitomi almost 30 years ago. I think it was some war or attack, anyway, my parents escaped, but their families didn't. They were all alone, just two teenagers who've lost everything." Rakka felt that their parents' meeting was sad, but it was also sweet and sort of romantic. "They clung to each other and they began to love each other. They stayed together when they arrived on Haven and got married and had me."

"Their names?"

"My mother's was Yuao and my father was Luac. Mother was from a small family who were farmers. My father….he didn't talk much about his family for some reason. All I know was that his mother, my grandmother was named Pllao and that she was an important and well-known person on Hitomi. Dad said that they were rich, so I guess she must have been an actress or a singer. I'm not sure."

Riddick shifted out of his seat and stood. Rakka watch him head for the door. "So tell me about yours."

He paused.

"Tell me who do I blame for you? Who do I hold responsible for having you?" She challenged.

"Hell if I know. I was found outside a liquor store in a trash can with my umbilical cord wrapped around my throat."

He walked out the door leaving Rakka feeling numb and empty.


	17. Temple

She sat on the bed feeling guilt tugging at her. She should have known better than to ask about his family background. Of course he wouldn't have had a good family. Look at how he is. A killer, a convict, and insane too. She didn't mean to….

_What? Hurt him? He couldn't be hurt. He had no feelings to be hurt with. _

She wanted to apologize to him, yet…it would be giving in to him again. She decided that she would apologize to him when he apologized for everything he did to her. She dressed in the silk robe embroidered with birds taking flight. She let her hair hang loose down her back.

She was surprised that he came back. She had believed briefly in the middle of the night that he had finally left her. He came back….for a reason.

She left the room and headed down the hall to the room where they had met Noa. She heard children's chatter and turned into the room to pause at a strange sight.

Riddick was recline on a wicket chair, one boot rested on a knee and around him were children, Hitomian children. He still looked dangerous, lethal, potential death incarnate and children were tugging at him and asking questions.

"What happened to your hair?"

"His hand is bigger than my dad's!"  
"Can I see your goggles?"  
"What's your name?"

"How strong are you?"

"I bet he's bigger than my dad!"  
"Why do you cover your eyes?"

"Did you really save Sunna's life?"

"He should have let her get hit by a truck!"  
"Your mama is gonna whip you for sayin' that, Mata!"  
"Not if you don't tell tattletale!"

"I'm tellin' your mama! You called me a tattletale!"

"Where did you come from?"

"Are you gonna stay?"

"What's your name?"

"Do you have kids?"

"Are you married?"

"Can you talk?"

"How old are you?"

"I bet he's older than my dad!"

"Your dad's 45."

Riddick remained still during the chatter and said not a word. Rakka remembered seeing vids of old nature films of extinct lions. How little cubs would tug and chew at a full grown lion's mane or tail and the powerful animal would just take it with almost no complaint, as if it was trying to ignore the cubs. This scene of humans resembling the scene of lions so thoroughly that it almost made Rakka laugh.

"Hey, you leave our guest alone!" A voice spoke out. A young woman appeared through a curtain bearing a coffee pot. "Shoo! Go out and play!"

The children fled passing, brushing past Rakka giggling. Riddick straightened in his seat, as if he was uncoiling his body. "Cute kids." He muttered.

Realization dawn on her. Riddick liked kids. Where he would have told adults to fuck off, he sat there and allowed the children to sate their curiosity of him. It was….dare she say sweet? Her mind went back to when he stayed to try to save Reki's babies' lives. And the affection in his tone. _"C'mere, Carolyn." _He risked his life to save Sunna's and the patience he held when Sunna threw her tantrum last night. Any lesser man would have stormed out to scream at the little girl, Riddick just sat aside and allowed Rakka to handle it better than he would.

"Rakka Laotaner." The woman said smiling at her. She had poured a mug of coffee for Riddick. Her hair was chestnut and her Hitomian eyes were gold. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Oh! Yes, I would….?"

"Oh, I'm Rafa Liika." The woman set another coffee mug on the table and filled it with coffee.

"You were going to marry Ori Kunas." Rakka accepted it.

Rafa glanced away. "Yes, I was."

"I'm so…"

"No, it's alright. It wasn't my choice to be engaged to him. I don't grieve for him. In fact, I never met him."

Riddick sipped his coffee while Rakka stood stunned. "You've never met your fiancé?"

"It was arranged between Grand Mother and Chural Kunas without my consent. Whoever killed him….did me a favor."

Riddick swallowed another mouthful while Rakka took a quick glance at him.

"Anyway, I hear that you two are finally going to see the Seer."

"Seer?"

"Yes, you've been expected for two days. You're leaving this morning, aren't you?"

"I….suppose so." She glanced at Riddick and he gave no negative or positive signal.

"Wonderful. It's such an honor to be called by the Seer. I'm told that each experience with her is personal and so….inspiring."

* * *

Two hours later, she and Riddick were sitting in the back of a hover being driven by Loyal. Loyal was a Hitomian male with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. He was young and was almost out of his teenage years.

For a rare occasion, due to Rakka being a Blessed child, a hover was allowed onto hollow ground for her transportation. Rakka felt a little embarrassed that so much was being done for her and she has done nothing for these people. Riddick was silent and said nothing on the trip. He sat on his side of the hover away from her.

She felt alone. Riddick was all she had left….no….that wasn't true. But it was. Sadly, it was….and she hated it.

The hover flitted over grassy plains and bushes until the Temple came into view. It was tall and rounded and was made of stone and marble. And it was decorated with eyes. Rakka felt as if the eyes were watching her.

The hover pulled up near two solid gates with a large eye painted on the wood. Loyal brought the hover to a stop before he got out and opened the door for Rakka. Riddick let himself out and stood at the gates.

Rakka was dressed in an honorary robe of blue-violet silk, velvet, and satin. It trailed the ground behind her and was held up by two female clerics who hurried out to welcome them. A hood shielded her eyes from the sun and twin trails of lace hung over her chest. It was heavy and she felt hot. It was also big. It completely covered her and almost filled up the rest of the backseat. Riddick was like a black piece of coal with his black shirt and dark pants against the sea of silk. Riddick had refused to change his usual attire for a robe like Rakka's.

An old man stepped forward. He had a beer gut and his thinning hair was matted to his head. He wore a sweeping robe hemmed with gold. Riddick raised an eyebrow and recognize him as the bartender from last night.

The man bowed deeply and respectfully before them. "Allow me to welcome you to our Temple. The Seer is awaiting you now."

"Got any beer?" Riddick almost snarled.

Rakka stared at him shocked. "Riddick!"

"No, but we have wine. And young frightened girls…." The bartender returned.

"Hitomian skanks?"

"RIDDICK!" Rakka was stunned. Loyal and the clerics looked uncertain. What was happening between this stranger and their head priest?

"Yeah. We also got white skanks, black skanks, Asian skanks, and even Spanish skanks, but sorry, no Furyan skanks."

"How much would you give for this royal skank?" Riddick motioned toward Rakka.

"RIDDICK!" She nearly screamed. She felt tears well in her eyes.

"I don't know. How much she worth?"

"Head Priest!" Loyal yelped.

"Guys paid 1,600 UDs for her and another fat fuck paid 250,000 to fuck her."

Rakka couldn't have been more embarrassed if she was stripped naked in public. Her face gleamed red and tears spilled over cheeks.

"But you and I know she's worth hell of lot more than that." The bartender grinned devilishly at Riddick. "How much would you pay for her, if I was selling her?"

"Depends if I'm buyin' or rentin'."

"Buying."

"I already tasted her once. I'd pay one UD."

Rakka screamed. She didn't know what else to do. She had snapped Riddick's name and even swatted at his arm, but he ignored her.

Eyes were on her. Riddick was smirking at her and the Head Priest leered at her. Loyal and the clerics gave her sympathetic looks and were embarrassed for her as well. She dropped her face into her hands and sobbed.

"Oh, Blessed. It's alright." A cleric placed an arm around her shoulders and led her through the gates.

Riddick and the bartender were left alone outside. The fat man smiled at Riddick and said, "I believe that you would pay a lot more for her."

Riddick snorted. "She ain't worth the UDs."

"I wasn't talking in terms of money." The Head Priest turned and entered his temple.

* * *

Rakka was left in a room to shed her tears alone. How could Riddick have said those things in front of everyone like that? Who was that man? That horrible man who egged Riddick on like that!

She wiped her eyes and nose on a small tissue left to her by a cleric. She hated Riddick, she hated him so much it hurt. Why why why did she have sex with him? Why? He used her? He used her so badly.

"You kaie?"

She looked up to see a small face looking up at her. A small little girl, maybe younger than 2-years-old was at her side, twin small hands clutching at her robe. Her left eyes were lime green while the other was pale blue. Her brown hair was braided back from her small face.

"You kaie?" She asked again.

Rakka choked back a sob and said softly, "Yes, honey. I'm crying."

"Why you kaie?"

"Because a mean man hurt my feelings by saying mean things about me." Rakka replied. She rested a hand on the child's shoulder. The child was thin and Rakka noticed a small fading bruise on the child's shoulder. "Baby, did you hurt yourself?"

"Daddy said Mimi was bad." The child replied.

"Your daddy hit you?" Rakka swallowed.

The little girl nodded. "Mommy say Daddy not hit Mimi animoe."

Rakka lifted the child and placed on her lap. She held the child tightly to her chest and thought…._Here I am shedding tears over my hurt ego and feelings, while this little girl is being physical hurt by her own father. Am I…Am I so selfish and self center that I don't think of others? Or about Riddick?_

* * *

Riddick was led to the far back of the Temple, to the Seer's Chamber. He lifted his goggles to his brow as the lights along the walls became dim as they traveled toward darkened rooms.

Finally, he was brought to an empty doorway over with gauzy transparent curtains. The Head Priest/Bartender, who had been leading him, turned to him and said, "You'll have to go inside alone. Meeting with the Seer is a personal and spiritual experience shared with no one."

"How do I know that there ain't a bunch of dumbfucks in there waitin' to ghost me?" Riddick returned.

"Because I already killed the dumbfucks I want dead." The fat man returned.

Riddick had to stoop to keep from bumping his head along the low level ceiling. It was almost a tunnel with dim light at the end of it. He brushed away layers of silk and gauze until he entered a small room.

The floor was covered in sheets of white silk, satin, and velvet. What the hell was with Hitomians and precious cloth? He had never been around so much silk, satin, or velvet in his life. Hanging from the ceiling was gauzes and silks and in the center was the Seer.

She looked young. All she wore was a simple white sheet around her torso and snowy white hair hung from her head and spread across the many silken cushions she sat cross-legged upon. Her skin was pale, almost white as her hair. Her bare legs and feet were thin and small. She looked like a young child.

As Riddick neared her, he notice that her toga hung off one shoulder and instead of seeing a curve of a round breast, it was flat like a man's breast. A boy? He sniffed the air. She/he was neither. She/he was sexless.

She/he opened her/his eyes and they were red. Blood red.

"What the hell kinda business does some asexual albino have with me?" Riddick said glaring down at the Seer.

"You have and will continue to suffer." She/He spoke in a thin voice.

"We all suffer. Some more than others." Riddick replied.

"You make others suffer in order to protect your own suffering."

"True, I do tend to dish out sufferin'."

"Even to those, who wish to end your suffering." She/He looked into his silver eyes. "Carolyn….Jack…..Rakka…."

Riddick glared murder at the Seer. "You know nothing about me…."

"I know everything." The Seer replied. "I know what you have suffered and what you will suffer through. You will loose much, but you will gain much." She/he tilted his/her head. "You will run from one destiny to embrace another, but you cannot run from both. They will overtake you."

"Destiny? Don't give me destiny bullshit. I ain't knockin' up Rakka. I ain't gonna be some voo-doo shit's fathert."

"And the other….you know nothing about….yet."

"Bastard." Riddick snapped.

The Seer tilted his/her head. "Maybe."

Riddick turned on his heel and stalked out the tunnel.

* * *

Rakka had dozed off with the child in her arms. She was awoken by a gentle tug and look up to see a woman with lime green eyes easing the child from her arms.

The woman notice she was awake and gasped, "I am so sorry if my child, Mimi, disturbed you, Blessed Child."

"No, no, she comforted me." Rakka assured. "Her name is Mimi?"

"Yes."

"I thought she was saying 'me'." Rakka smiled.

The woman smiled shyly back as she took her sleeping child into her arms. "Forgive me, but I must go."

"Yes, I understand. Please tell Mimi I said thank you."

"Blessed Rakka Laotaner, the Seer is ready to see you now." A cleric stepped into the room. "If you are ready….?"

"Yes, I'm ready to go." Rakka wiped her eyes once more and stood.

She said goodbye to a sleeping Mimi and her mother and followed the cleric down the same passages Riddick had walked earlier. She was led to the same opening and was urged to enter alone.

She made her way down the tunnel and into the opening of the Seer's chamber. She too couldn't at first determine whether or not the Seer was female or male, until she realized that the Seer was neither.

"Hello?" She offered unsure. She knelt, billowing her robe on the floor, on a cushion near the Seer's collection of cushions.

"Welcome Blessed Rakka Laotaner." The Seer greeted with a warm, but sad smile. "It is an honor."

"No, no, it's…it's nothing." Rakka assured her.

"Being held in high regard discomforts you." It was statement, not a question.

"Yes. I've done nothing to deserve being treated so wonderfully." Rakka insisted. "I've just met these people."

"But they've been waiting to meet you."

"They have?"

"Yes, for years."

"Why? How do they know me?"

"That….you will know when it is time."

Rakka swallowed. "I'm sorry that I couldn't come the day Riddick and I arrived on the planet."

"That is well. Things happen in their due time. To rush events is to rush into destruction." The Seer tilted her/his head. "You are troubled….because of him."

Rakka knew of whom the Seer was speaking of. "Yes. I hate him…..but he does things to me. Physically and emotionally. I want him out of my life, but…." Fresh tears came to Rakka's blue-violet eyes. Why did she cry so much over him? "I don't know or how…..I don't understand it at all. I can't live without him…..Why? Why? He hurts me….he has hurt me so much more than anyone I have ever known. He has no regard for me, he cares nothing for me, yet…..to think of him not being there…._terrifies _me. The thought of him with another woman enrages me. I….hate him….I hate him for what he does to me."

The Seer raised a white hand and gently trailed it along Rakka's jaw. She/he said these words that stayed with Rakka for the rest of her life. "Love can easily turn into hatred while hatred can easily turn into love."

"I….I'm sorry, but I don't understand. I don't love him. I don't." Rakka felt anger. She scooted away from the Seer's touch and stood angry. "I hate him. I hate him. Don't you understand! He _sold _me! He sold me to horrible people and used me. He tried to abandoned me twice! He's a hateful man! A hateful man that wormed himself into my life and heart and he….."

The Seer watched her with a sad smile. Rakka wailed softly. "Why him? Why him of all the men I've ever met. I can't love him…I can't. Why? This is a cruel joke and God is laughing at me!"

"God, He is not laughing at you. He is sadden that you are sadden by such a precious emotion. Love heals, love strengthens, love gives hope, love gives faith, and yet….love can be a painful and horrible thing. People do cruel things to each other out of love."

"But to love him…..that's….too cruel…." Rakka whimpered.  
"Yes, to love someone, knowing even though you will love him for the rest of your life, he will never love you back….is true agony."

"I want hatred in my heart for him." Rakka hissed. "I wish I had hatred, I want to hate him."

The Seer sadly shook his/her head. "Hatred consumes. It is a cancer of the soul and heart. Like love it spreads, but instead of giving, it consumes."

"I don't care!" Rakka snapped. "I have nothing! Nothing! My parents are dead, my friends are gone. I am all alone in a world of strangers! I don't need him!"

"Yet it is him that you want."

"What can I do?" Rakka whispered.

"I will impart upon you two gifts." The Seer said. "One, a prediction and two, I will allow you forget that you love. I do not have the power to take your love for him away, but I can make you forget that you love him. I am afraid that you realize that you love him again. When I cannot say, but do know that it will cause you more pain. I see pain in your future, more pain. You will find it unbearable at times, but you will live through it. And within a year's time….you will find happiness."

Rakka shuddered. "I…don't know if I can last that long."

The Seer smiled sadly and closed his/her red eyes. A single white tear trail down his/her cheek. "I am afraid….that you have no choice."

* * *

Rakka left the tunnel to be greeted by a cleric.

"How was your time with the Seer?" The cleric said warmly. "I hope it was pleasant for you."

"I…" Rakka blinked her eyes dazed. "That's so funny…..I can't remember a thing of what happened in their. I remember going in and seeing the Seer, but…now it's all a blank. I can't remember what we talked about."

"It must have been very serious because….." The cleric brushed Rakka's cheek with a sleeve. "You have tears on your cheeks."


	18. Kiss

There was shouting and wailing coming from the far rooms. Rakka and the cleric looked at each other and hurried toward to noise. They hurried down passages and halls and all the while the wails were getting louder and louder.

They finally got to a small worship room see a male cleric out cold on the floor and Mimi's mother sobbing and nursing a bleeding lip. Chairs and furniture was over turn and incense was spilled over onto the red carpet.

"Where's….Mimi?" Rakka whispered.

Mimi's mother choked. "Her…father, Harold, came and took her."

Rakka felt her blood go cold. "When….?"

"Just now." Mimi's mother sobbed. "I left him this morning…..I took Mimi with me. He and his friends pulled up in hovers. Cleric tried to stop him, but they beat him. They took her…they took my baby!"

Rakka stared at the sobbing woman. _You kaie?_She spun to the female cleric who was staring stunned at the unconscious cleric on the floor. "Where's Riddick?"

* * *

Riddick didn't particularly like wine, but he'll take whatever he can get. He drained half the bottle and licked his lips. He was reclining on a leather chair in the Head Priest's office his boots on the oak desk.

"Comfortable?" The Head Priest who was leaning against the far wall and glancing unhappily at Riddick's unwanted boots.

Riddick shrugged. "If I had a woman on my lap….yeah."

"You already got a woman. Get her in here and put her on your lap."

"You mean a princess."

"Princess, woman, skank….what's the difference." The Head Priest leered. "As long as they got cunts, who's to complain."

"You sure don't act like a priest." Riddick commented.

"I use to be a bartender."

"That I believe." Riddick took another swig.

The door burst open and Rakka, nearly tripping over her skirts, stumble into the room. "Riddick! You…have to come help…."

Riddick sat up, taking his boots off the desk and turned to her. Rakka, out of breath, choked out. "It's a…little girl….Mimi….her father took her….from her mother….."

"Shit, Harold came for Mimi….didn't he?" The Head Priest muttered.

"Yes!" Rakka gasped.

"I was afraid of this shit." The Head Priest growled. "When the fucker ain't drunk, he's pissed. Takes it out on the kid and wife. That bitch took too long to leave him if you ask me."

"Riddick, you have to go after him and get Mimi back!" Rakka said.

"Ain't my fight and ain't my problem." Riddick replied.

"Riddick! She's barely 2. Her father beats her!" Rakka approached him. "Riddick, her mother is in the next room with a bleeding lip. He almost broke her jaw. And there is a cleric suffering from a concussion. That man is willing to beat a woman and hit a cleric in the head with a club. Are you willing to leave a poor little girl alone with a man like that?"

Riddick shrugged his arm away from her hands. "I go out there and kill the guy and take the girl….how does that make me better than him? I'll be doin' the same thing."  
Rakka shuddered. "Riddick, please…..You saved Carolyn, you saved Sunna, please, please, save Mimi. She's a sweet little girl….."

"Fuck!"

* * *

An hour later, Rakka was sitting in the passenger seat of the hover wearing blue jeans and a pale blue blouse. She chose to change out of the huge robe to better travel in the city. Riddick had said that if he had to go then she sure as hell was gonna go too.

Riddick was silently driving the hover downtown in the lesser part of the city. He had his goggles above his eyes and his silvery eyes glinted in the city's lights.

"Do you know how to find that bar that priest told us about?" Rakka asked.

"I can find it." Riddick replied stiffly.

Rakka swallowed and crossed her legs. She was scared. What use could she be to him during a fight…..unless….

"Riddick, why did you want me to come?"

"Because you wanted me to get the kid back…." Riddick replied evenly.

Rakka decided to keep quiet, keep her eyes open, and stay on her toes. They soon pulled into a bar where the sign promised LIVE NUDE GIRLS.

"I hope that Harold didn't bring Mimi here." Rakka said as they exited the hover.

"It ain't like she's gonna see somethin' she ain't gonna get." Riddick retorted.

Rakka hesitated walking toward the bar's entrance until Riddick placed a hard hand on the back of her neck and urged her forward. They both walked to the front doors and Riddick shoved them open.

Inside, it was dim and bright at the same time. Dim around booths and tables in the audience section, but bright were women stripped on the stage. Rakka watched in shock as a woman guided another woman on hands and knees by a leash and collar. The woman on the leash barked and yip and wagged her bottom which wore a thong with a stuff tail attached. The woman holding the leash had her panties at her knees and was holding her skirt up and was directing the woman on the leash on licking her crotch.

Rakka looked away and Riddick slid an arm around her shoulders, possessing her. She knew he didn't mean it; it was all a show to other men who might set their sights on her. She meant nothing to him.

* * *

"Holy shit!" Toombs hissed. He was sitting in a balcony, granted to him by none other than Chural Kunas, the owner of this strip bar. He leaned over the edge wishing he had a gun.

"Please, be still." Lilia begged, tugging at his arm. "Father will be angry if you start a fight in his establishment."

"Sweetheart, I don't give a shit about gramps' building." Toombs snarled nearly knocking her away from him.

"You will not get your money if Rakka does not get pregnant by Riddick." Lilia begged.

"Shit." Toombs growled. "Fine, but I'm going to have a little fun."

* * *

"Stay here." Riddick nudged her into a booth. "Any guys come and messes with you, tell them to fuck off. They don't listen, scream and I'll come."

"Where are you going?" She asked as she slid into the booth.

"Get some info." Riddick disappear into the crowd.

Rakka watched him leave and crossed her arms under her breasts. She wished he wouldn't leave her alone, but he was going to help the little girl. It was enough to make her forget how badly he had hurt her. Last night and this morning at the Temple gates.

_"You're not the only female now."_

Well, he was no longer the only male now. Plenty of men here who would…..She saw a man shove a woman under a table and unzip his pants for oral sex. Rakka looked away. Just like Riddick….that was something Riddick would do….except he said she gave lousy blowjobs.

She felt stirrings of anger toward Riddick. No, that wasn't fair. He was helping a little girl, but only because she pressured him into it. It was still no excuse for the way he treated her.

Against her better judgment, and more to her foolishness, she got up out of the booth and followed where Riddick had disappeared to. She yelped every now and then when a hand would give her a grope or a grab, but shoved her way forward the dancing crowd and wondering hands.

She saw the back of Riddick's bare head and struggled to keep up. There was something about him that made people spread apart to allow him to pass without problem, but it closed behind him embedding her.

She saw him stop and lean forward….over a woman dressed scantily in a barely there thong with no top. She couldn't hear what was said, but from the look on the woman's face…..was enough to give her an idea. Rakka felt her heart sank as Riddick urge the girl stand and go with him toward the back….where small private rooms were.

Rakka's vision blurred and she blinked and tears dripped down her cheeks. He didn't want to help Mimi, he didn't want to help Rakka; he just wanted a quick lay. A small sob, so softly that even she could barely hear it escaped her lips. She turned and forced her way back through the crowd to her booth.

Unfortunately, the booth was already taken by a beautiful woman with emerald green eyes and blonde hair wearing a scanty robe and rugged man with curly brownish blonde hair, a beard and sideburns. His blue eyes greeted Rakka.

"Somethin' wrong, sugar?" He asked in a friendly voice.

"Ah…no…I'm fine, it's nothing." She wiped her eyes. She must be crazy to cry in a place like this.

"Wanna kiss?"

"Huh?" She stared wide eye at the UD chips the man was holding up.

"How about 400 for some tongue action? I got enough money to give away like candy."

Rakka glanced at the woman. The man held the woman close with an arm around her bare shoulders. "Lilia doesn't mind sharin'."

Rakka stared at him. He was attractive, not as sexy and desirable as Riddick, but….he was attractive in his own way.

"Okay."

The man's eyebrows arched. He was obviously pleasantly surprise. He set the UD chips on the table and held out an arm for her.

As Rakka made her way around the table to slid into the booth with him, her mind and heart was racing. What was she doing? Kissing a man she never met! She kissed Riddick…but that was different. Why not do this! Riddick was off screwing another woman. Like she had said earlier, _'you're not the only male now'._

She paused as she drew within arms length of the man. "What's your name?"

"Toombs, honey, Toombs."

"Rakka." She replied.

She eased into his arm as it curled around her shoulders. She pressed her body against Toombs' side, her breasts pressed against his ribs. He smelled pleasantly of leather and sweat. The feeling of hard muscle against her body….felt good. He wasn't as big or masculine as Riddick….he was enough to make her aroused. Maybe she'll give him more than a kiss after all.

She tilted her head and parted her lips as Toombs pulled her upward and their mouths met. His tongue stroked hers as she hand came around to stroke his curly hair. Lilia watched, her eyes gleaming. They broke away only for Toombs to pull her sideways onto his lap and their tongues met before entering Rakka's mouth.

Toombs' hands were at her hip and curled around her back, and then she felt another hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes too see Lilia leaning over her. At first, Rakka thought she was jealous and wanted her to stop. She moved to pull away from Toombs, but his hand on her back cupped the back of her head and held her there. Lilia leaned forward and pressed her lips to their conjoined mouths. Her tongue stroked theirs apart and she replaced Rakka's mouth on Toombs'.

She leaned back to watch Lilia and Toombs in a heated liplock. Lilia's unbound golden hair hung over Toombs' chest and Rakka's lap. Against her thigh, she felt something hard within Toombs' pants. She blushed crimson, but it stirred her arousal more. Then….she did something daring……if only Riddick could see her now.

She cupped a hand over Toombs bound erection. Toombs groaned against Lilia's mouth and withdrew from her lips. He starred at Rakka with glazed eyes turned to her mouth. He pressed his mouth almost violently against hers.

She lapped his tongue with hers, then he withdrew and kissed her so deeply and hard their teeth scraped against each other. His hand came off her hip to grope a breast through her blouse. Lilia's hands appear at her blouse and began to undo each button at a time.

Rakka raised her hands to stop her. Then a growl resounded. She pulled away from Toombs to look up to see Riddick glaring at her with the eyes of a killer.

"Riddick!" She hissed. Her blouse was open, revealing her bra, her lips were red and slightly bruised from kissing.

Riddick seized her arm and, nearly breaking it, yanked her from Toombs' lap. She grasped as she struggle to grab the gaping front of her blouse to hold it together.

Toombs licked his upper lip and grinned. "I haven't paid her yet, Riddick."

"Fuck off, Toombs." Riddick snarled. "Where's your crew? You killed them off already?"

"Nah, I ain't huntin' tonight. I'm just here for little R&R and TLC." He leaned his head on Lilia's shoulder.

"Ya know what's gonna happen if I see you comin'." Riddick growled.

"If you see me comin'." Toombs replied. Riddick walked away with Rakka in tow. Lilia blew her a kiss and laughed.

"Riddick! Let go of me!"

He didn't release her until they were outside by the hover. He almost flung her against it. She caught herself before she collided with the hard metal. She hastily began buttoning up her blouse and said, "I….don't understand why you're so upset. You went off with some hooker."

"That hooker pulled tricks for Harold. She knows where he barhops!" Riddick snapped.

Rakka looked at him. "Then you and she….."

"Oh, we did something together." Riddick admitted.

Rakka looked away and straightened her blouse. "Well, I did something with Toombs."

"Toombs is a merc." Riddick growled. "A merc who would sell your ass to the highest paying slam and not look back while all the inmates and guards get in line for a piece of your ass."

Rakka walked around to her side of the hover. "And you would be there in line with them….."

It happened so fast. She was seized and flung across the hood of the hover. Riddick held her in place by the throat and the other hand ripped open her blouse, buttons clattered across the hood and gravel. She whimpered, tears threatening to appear. Hasn't she cried enough? It made her angry.

"You're just jealous." She muttered.

Riddick pressed his pelvis between her thighs and leaned close, his brow pressing against hers. "Why should I be jealous for a piece of ass I can take anytime I want?"

"So, you're gonna fuck me now?" Rakka asked. "You….you're going to mark me like an animal marks territory?"

Riddick inhaled the scent of her hair and grimaced. Rakka realized that he could smell Toombs on her. Oh god, this man was truly an animal. Riddick laid his body atop her, but he was careful enough to support himself enough so he wouldn't crush her.

"Riddick…." She whimpered. "Riddick, if….not like this….please, don't do this to me. Last night, you acted as if you didn't care. You just….just went off with a hooker….Why do you care what I do?"

Riddick nipped her jaw almost drawing blood. His breathing quicken as a hand slid down her belly and hooked her pants.

She offered up a low wail against his shoulder. He was going to do it! He was actually going to take her right there on the hood of the hover. And the thing that shocked her…..to painful realization was that she wanted him to. She was aroused and his body on hers felt so good.

She bit her lip to bring herself around. Bit it till she drew blood. Riddick's nostrils flared at the scent of blood. He started lapping at her lip, drawing in her blood. Her desire melted to icy terror. Riddick was turned on by the scent, sight, and taste of blood….?

Her lip was bleeding just like Mimi's mother's lip was….

Riddick had undone her pants and was lifting off her enough to slide them down.

"Riddick! Mimi!" Rakka blurted.

Riddick paused….but it was brief and he shoved his tongue into her mouth, as if he wanted to gag her with his mouth. She sputtered against him and she managed to get her hands on his face. She scratched his cheek, not enough to draw blood, but enough to get his attention.

He lifted his head to glare at her. She swallowed and said, "Riddick, Mimi is still with her father. We….we can't be selfish and forget about her. If you are angry with me….hurt me later….but right now…..let's just do the right thing for her. Then we can go back to hurting and fucking each other."

"You can't hurt me, bitch." Riddick said softly, his gravel voice brushing her spine. "You never have and you never will."


	19. Mimi

She leaned against the door of the hover as Riddick steered the vehicle to a less bright part of the city. She ignored the warnings her mother had given her as a child. _Don't lean on the hover door, you'll fall out!_

Riddick hadn't said a word to her since he had gotten off her and climbed into the hover. He waited for her to enter the hover and sped out of the parking lot, before she had a chance to buckle up. She had to tie the front of her blouse together in the front to conceal her bra, but it showed off her waist and she felt half naked.

Riddick finally pulled up into a dingy little bar on the outskirts of the city. He got out and Rakka was prepared to wait in the hover, until he angrily motioned her to get out as well.

She got out. "Riddick, I don't think it's a good idea for me to be out here dressed like this…."

"Don't speak unless I say you can." Riddick snapped. "Around places like these, I own your ass and if you go off and liplock with another guy in here, then you are on your own."

She stayed quiet and didn't protest when Riddick planted his arm firmly around her shoulders. He guided her to the bar's front door and swung it open. Men looked up and saw Rakka and leered. Then they saw Riddick and looked away….but there were stupid ones who kept undressing her with their eyes.

It was these stupid ones that Riddick was looking for. He nudged Rakka to the side and stepped forward. "I'm lookin for a guy. Goes by the name Harold. Heard he beat up his wife and snatched her kid. Anybody seen 'em?"

"Leave the gal and maybe we'll tell ya which hotel he's whorin' up in." A fat drunk laughed.

Rakka swallowed a lump in her throat and kept her eyes on Riddick. Riddick cocked his head and grinned. "Come get her."

Three men stood from the bar. Others were smart enough to look nervous and stand from their seats to get into safer locations. And others were leaning forward to watch the show.

One man leered at her and wagged his tongue at her. "C'mere baby."

He reached out for her. Rakka flinched and she heard a whistle. Riddick's knife slashed the air and splashed light into her eyes. She heard liquid splatter onto the floor while a man screamed. The man was clutching his hand that had bleeding stumps instead of fingers. His fingers were on the floor twitching.

"Motherfucker!" A guy whipped out his knife and flicked out the blade. Rakka backed up to the wall.

The man slashed at Riddick, but his wrist was caught and twisted in an odd angle. The man was forced to drop the knife. Riddick jerked and the bone snapped. The man started screeching obscenities.

Riddick shoved him away and he fell in a heap onto the floor. The third man froze….. "What do ya want….?"

Riddick tilted his head and said, "I just wanna know where I can find Harold."

"He's livin' with his girlfriend. In the Gray Light apartments, room 305. I don't know if he's still got the kid with him, but he'll be there."

"Now was that so hard?" Riddick returned his knife to his hip sheath.

Riddick turned, grabbed Rakka by the arm and led her out. Rakka numbly let him lead her out. She felt a stirring in her belly and pushed away from Riddick. She bent over and vomited on the ground, the images of the bleeding hand and severed fingers on the floor twitching flashed through her mind. Riddick got into the hover and waited for her to finish. Rakka wiped her mouth of the corner of the knot of her blouse and got into the hover.

Riddick started up the hover and pulled out of the parking lot and headed southward. Rakka swallowed and said, "You….cut off that man's fingers….."

"If he hurries, the hospital can fuse them back on." Riddick said causally.

"But….Riddick……you cut off a man's fingers!"

"He's lucky he's got what was left of his hand."

"They were twitching on the floor…."

"Nerves were still alive. He'll live."

"Riddick….I….I can understand cutting open Reki's belly to save Carolyn….but to….cut off a limb, even a small limb…..how?"

"Bastard was ready to molest you with those fingers and you gonna shed a tear over 'em?"

"He could bleed to death!"

"Honey, if I wanted him to bleed to death, then I would have gone for the sweet spot."

"Sweet spot?"

"Right there." Riddick reached over. Rakka shifted away, but his hand followed. He touched her back, below her heart and near her spine. "Left of the spine, fourth lumbar down, right there in the abdominal aorta." His fingers circled a spot on her skin. "Blood has a metallic taste. For me, it's copper. I like to cut mine with peppermint schnapps…." His fingers pressed into her skin, bruising her.

"Stop it." Rakka shove his hand away. "Get away! Don't touch me!"

Riddick returned his hand to the steering while Rakka shuddered. She crossed her arms over her chest and held herself, her heart pounding beneath her breast. She pressed her bruised back against the leather seat, as if protecting her 'sweet spot' from him.

He was an animal. The taste of wanted…..she wanted no part of him anymore.

They didn't speak for the rest of the ten minutes it took to get to the Gray Light apartments. They got out and this time Riddick didn't put an arm around her and for that Rakka was glad. She followed him into the building. They didn't take the elevator; they took the stairs along the corner of the building.

Riddick move smoothly up the stairs while Rakka almost jogged to catch up. They got to the third floor and Rakka felt her nerves build up. Is Riddick going to get violent with Harold…..yes….she hope he did…..not go as far as cutting off a limb. A knock in the head would do, enough to let Harold know how it felt to be hit and not be able to do anything about. She greatly feared for Mimi. She didn't want Mimi to get scared and have to watch her father be hurt.

Riddick stopped at the door 305. He motioned for her to come close. "Knock on the door."

"Why? Aren't you going to…."

"Get him to open the door. I smash the door down and the alarms go off. Police come and we're the "bad guys"."

"What do I say?"

"Tell 'im that one of his friends paid you to give him a fuck."

"No!"

"Get him to open the door." Riddick hissed and nudged her roughly toward the door.

She stood front of the door and bit her bottom lip. She raised her hand to knock and dropped it. Riddick made an impatient sound and muttered. "You're wasting time."

Rakka forced herself to rap her knuckles on the door.

"Who the hell is it?" A woman yelled.

"Fuck if I know." A thick male voice yelled back. A voice echoed on a speaker by the door as did a face. Rakka stepped in front of the outdoor camera and offered a shy grin. "What the fuck do you want?"

"One….one of your….friends paid me….to give you a……fuck…"

"Lenny?"

"I suppose. Told me to come to this address." She turned as if to leave. "If you don't want me….I'll go somewhere else."  
"Harold, tell her to leave!"

"Shut your fuckin' mouth before I come over their shut it for ya!" The door opened and a heavy set man, wearing boxers and a beer gut hanging over the waist band leered at her. Rakka felt like gagging from the smell.

Before the man could speak….Riddick stepped in front of Rakka and shoved Harold back into the apartment.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT!" The woman screamed. She was wearing a teddy which hung off her bony frame. She had thick red curly hair and layers of makeup on her face.

"Where's the girl?" Riddick asked calmly.

"What? You into kids, fag?" Harold sneered.

Riddick hit him. The punch resounded through the room and blood splattered from Harold's mouth and teeth hit the floor too. Harold hit the floor spitting blood from his torn mouth.

Riddick stepped over him and approached the red head. "Let me ask you, where is the girl?"

The woman swallowed and said, "Harold whipped her for crying and locked her in the bedroom closet. I'll get her…"

"You stay right there." Riddick snapped. "Rakka." Riddick stepped over the bleeding man. Rakka hesitated before she made her way around Harold and followed Riddick into the back.

Riddick opened the bedroom and Rakka heart heartrending crying from a closet. She dashed forward past him and grabbed the closet lock. "Mimi!"  
"Ma…Mommy?" The voice was so full of hope that Rakka wished for all her heart that she was Mimi's mommy.

"No, I'm the crying lady, remember?" Rakka said. She struggled with the door handle, it wouldn't turn. Riddick nudged her aside and grasped the door handle. He ripped the side of the door frame out with one quick yank and the door fell open.

There huddle on a pile of dirty clothes in her panties was Mimi. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were tearstained. Her chestnut hair was tangled as if it had been yanked. To Rakka's horror, there were pink and red and even bleeding belt welts on Mimi's back and legs.

Rakka knelt and hesitated, afraid of hurting Mimi by taking her into her arms. "Baby, are you okay?"

"I….I want my mommy!" The child wailed. Rakka took her gently into her arms. She could feel the rise of more welts through the child's panties. Rakka felt like crying with her.

"Get the fuck away from my kid!"

Harold was standing at the doorway brandishing a gun. Rakka wanted to scream so many things at him. How could you hurt such a little girl? How could you ever hit your own child with a belt? You can't be her father! But the sight of the gun made her keep her silence, but her blue-violet eyes glared at him.

Harold got closer and grinned through his bloody mouth. "Thought you were gonna cowboy up and take her away, eh? Sorry, kid's mine. No bitch or fag gonna take her away!"

Harold pointed the gun at Riddick's face. "Now get the fuck out of my house."

"Alright." Riddick replied.

"Riddick!" Rakka was shocked.

"But ya gonna have to get the kid out of her arms. Ya know how clingy women are." Riddick shrugged.

Harold studied his face for a moment, and then turned to Rakka aiming the gun at her. "Better let go of my kid, bitch!"

It happened to fast, that Rakka wasn't sure what had happened. Riddick's hand struck like a snake bite and snatched the gun from Harold's grasp. It was pointed at Harold's grizzled jaw. Rakka blinked her eyes in disbelief. No one could move that fast, no one.

"Rakka, get the kid out of here." Riddick had one gun aimed at Harold.

"Riddick…."

"You leave this room with my kid, bitch, and I'll break your goddamn neck…." Harold snarled despite the gun at his jaw.

Rakka stood with Mimi's legs around her waist. She saw that Riddick was taking a leather belt from the closet. Her stomach clench when he looped it in one hand. She hurried out. Harold called her something, but she couldn't hear it for that a whoosh sounded through the air and a slap as leather met skin and Harold yelled in pain.

It happened again and it made Rakka flinch as she hurried through the livingroom. The woman was sitting on the couch, her head on her hands. Rakka paused and looked at her. The woman looked up and Rakka noticed a bruise almost hidden by makeup and hair on her cheek.

"I hope he kills the bastard." The woman said sadly. "I'm sorry about the kid…I didn't ask him to get her. He just showed up with her. I would have stopped him from hurting her….but…..he would have used the belt on me too."

"He's getting a taste of the belt now." Rakka said softly. A crack and this time Harold screamed as if he was crying.

Mimi whimpered and Rakka left the apartment and made her way back to the hover. She got into the hover and realized how cold it was getting. She removed her blouse and managed to tie it around Mimi's small body.

"Who he?" Mimi asked.

"Who?"

"The scary man."

"Riddick? That was Riddick. He…he looks scary, but he's…..really nice to children. He's up there making sure Daddy will never never hurt you again."

Mimi laid her head on Rakka's shoulder and whimpered. Rakka rocked the child and stroked her hair. Ten minutes later Riddick came down the stairs. Without a word he got into the driver's side and started the hover.

Riddick glanced at her. Rakka looked back at him. The child wore her ripped blouse and she was in her bra and pants. Riddick slowed the hover to an almost complete stop and lifted his shirt over his head. He tossed it to Rakka who held it surprised.

"It's clean." Riddick said as he sped up the hover.

Rakka shifted forward to pull the oversize shirt over her head and woke up a Mimi that had been dozing on her shoulder. Mimi blinked her sleepy eyes and spotted Riddick. Rakka was sure she was going to get scared but to her shock, Mimi crawled out of her lap and over to Riddick's side.

She wrapped her small around his thick arm and kissed his skin. Riddick showed no emotion and nudged the child back toward Rakka. Rakka replaced the child on her lap and rocked her back to sleep.

Rakka stared at Riddick. Less than thirty minutes ago, he spoke of the taste of blood and had now accepted an embrace and kiss from a little child.

Rakka scooted to Riddick's side and touched his arm. She leaned upward and kissed his hard cheek. She enjoyed his scent and heat. She leaned back and waited for Riddick's response.

He licked his lips and said, "You better be glad there's a kid in here. Otherwise I'd be pulling this heap over and getting a piece of your ass."

"It was just a thank you." Rakka replied. "Nothing more than that." She told him and herself.

"Don't play with me, Rakka. I play for keeps."

"You like having sex." Rakka stated.

"Like I said the first time I fucked ya. Been a long time since I fucked. I'm just trying to get my fucks in."

"Before…." She swallowed. "Before you leave?"

"Yeah, Rakka, before I leave." Riddick smirked at her. "Gonna give me a goodbye kiss?"

"You can't!"

"Why the hell not? You're being treated like a fuckin' princess here."

"Riddick, please don't go."

"Wanna come with me?"

"What?"

"Wanna come with me?"

"……"

"You won't get any special treatment where I'm going, but hell….a warm body is a warm body on U.V. 6."

"That….that's that ice planet from the Hellion system." Rakka murmured. "I read about it. You said that you've stayed on a ice planet before you came to the Green System. Hiding from merc?"

"From myself."

"Yourself?"

"Do you want to come with me? Yes or no?"

"No!"

"Fine." Riddick shrugged his shoulders.

Rakka was silent. "Riddick….I don't want you to leave me yet."

"Why should I stay? The Liikas ain't my people. I got Toombs on my ass again and you bitchin' about everything I do."

"Yes, I do!" Rakka snapped. "Because everything you do is to hurt me."

"Ain't everything I do is about you, sister."

"Let me count." Rakka held up a hand. "First, you insulted, humiliated, and made fun of me with the Head Priest at the temple, then you go and yank me off Toombs lap and…."

Riddick was about growl a statement, but she raised her voice to interrupt him. "You sold me to pimps! You treated me like I was less than a sick dog in the dormitory on Haven. Hell, I bet Harold would have treated his sick dog better than you treated me! You stole a com from me and smashed it! Tied me up and held me against my will in the bathroom. You sexually harassed me on multiple times. The first time we met, you assaulted me and cut me with your knife. I don't like this thing between us! You are constantly hurting me. I want to believe that you try to make up for it by sleeping with me, but I know better. I know better because you had sex with me first time due to me being the only available woman for you. You hurt me and make me cry. I don't want to cry anymore because of you and your disregard for me. Of course, you respect children and that's the only good quality I see in you. You saved Carolyn, Sunna, and Mimi and they will always owe the rest of their lives to you and I'll never forget. But I just wish you would treat me half as well as you treat them. Is it too much for me to want you to….like me a little. I…mean…no, not like….respect me. That's what I want. Respect from you is what I really would like. I respect you, why can't you respect me back? I know that…a few times I may have hurt you. And…I'm willing apologize for those times. I didn't mean to hurt you if I did so. You act so cold as steel that….I tend to believe that you don't feel. And I apologize for that too. Riddick….Riddick? Hey Riddick!"

Riddick turned and looked at her. "I stopped listening."

Rakka stared at him and turned her head to stare straight ahead. "Riddick, I wouldn't go with you if you were the last man in this solar system."

"You come with me to U.V. 6 I would be the only man on the planet."

"And I'd be the only woman on the planet."

Riddick made a sound in his throat that made Rakka shudder with desire despite the sleeping child in her arms.

"Like Adam and Eve." Rakka murmured.

"Except there ain't gonna be a Cain and Abel popping up."

"No, Riddick….I can't go with you. I just can't." Rakka hugged Mimi tightly. "I….I….I want children. Not now….I'm not even ready for pregnancy yet. I didn't know I wanted children until…..then…..when I saw Mimi in that closet crying and hurt and I….thought….when I get a little girl or boy…..I would die before I let anyone hurt them. And I want a husband. A good man who'll be there for me when I need him….not just when I need him, but there always. I'll be able to love and share anything with him and he'll be able to love me and share anything with me. Someone I can trust and depend on and who'll be a good father. Nothing like Harold, nothing. And…nothing like you, Riddick. Nothing."

Riddick didn't reply. He turned onto the path that led Liika Family compound.


	20. I Want Love

Riddick pulled the hover up to the gates of the compound. Rakka slid out of the hover with a sleeping Mimi securely in her arms. She walked around the hover and paused. Riddick wasn't getting out with them. She moved closer to the open window and he turned his head and regard her through his black goggles that his eyes and soul from the world.

"You're going now…..aren't you." Rakka said softly.

"Yeah." Riddick replied.

Rakka closed her eyes. "Not even going to spend the night and leave in the morning?"  
"Spend the night with you?" Riddick tilted his head.

Rakka knew what he meant. "No…..just to sleep."

"I got nothin' here to stay for then." Riddick placed both hands on the steering wheel.

Rakka winced from the pain. "Please…..don't go. I….need you."

"Need me, but not want me."

She had to be honest. He had always been honest with her about his feelings. "Yes, that's true."

"Like I said, nothing keepin' me here." Riddick glanced at her. She was standing in the lamplight of the lamppost. His shoved his goggles off his eyes and looked at her. His vision was always, ever since that day in Butcher Bay, been of violets, purples, and white. Sometimes, sometimes, he would see other colors.

Rakka had always been a purple figure to his eyes, but more define. Her hair was a halo of white and her limbs a serpentine of violet. Her eyes…..he had been told they were blue-violet, but to him…..they were a shade of blue. When he looked into her eyes on that first day that he saw her straggling wet and miserable through the woods on Haven and had threatened her….it was the first time he saw the color blue since that day in Pope Joe's 'clinic' in Butcher Bay.

She stood against the light and in his vision it enhanced her figure. She wore pants and his shirt and bore a sleeping child in her arms. Her hair flared white in the backing of the light that sometimes blinded him and caused him pain. Her blue eyes shone like twin blue suns at him. He sniffed the air and she had his scent from his shirt blended with hers from her skin. It drove him…..the animal, the primal side, the Furyan side of his psyche…..mad. The side he had been listening to more and more……before he met Carolyn, Jack, Imam…..now Rakka. He felt the heat stir inside his pants.

To just grab her arm, drag her into the hover, take her off somewhere where no one could find her and just take her in everyway a man could take a woman.

Riddick didn't speak. He gave the hover gas and pulled away from the woman and child. He steered it back down the path he came and left.

Rakka watched him leave holding the child tight. She swallowed and blinked her eyes repeatedly. Her bottom lip quiver, but no sob came, and there were no tears.

There would be plenty later when she had the strength to feel and cry.

* * *

Riddick piloted the hover back toward the lower part of the city. He licked his lip. He needed a woman to alleviate the boner in his pants before he could concentrate on finding a way off this island to the main land. He could possibly get a temporary job with a local crime lord or gang. It would be easy in this part of the galaxy, the newly colonized Green System, where he is hardly known. Then he could easily either steal or maybe buy a skiff and return to UV6.

His mind went back to Carolyn. What they had had been brief, so brief he didn't know what it was they had. He wanted her…..wanted her since he was chained in that room and she had approached him wanting the truth from him. Her smell…..it was sweet and arousing. The brave act she tried to uphold, yet he scented the terror beneath it. On the ship, he drew close to her while he told her the truth of Johns, the blue eyed devil bastard. He concentrated; he could still scent her and feel her hair tickling his face as he almost nuzzled her.

When she was taken from his grasp….something within him broke. _Not for me. _Losing her opened him to a field of emotions he had forgotten and they terrified him. It made him make stupid mistakes that could get him killed. Protecting Imam and Jack on Chillingsworth's merc ship was…..something he did only for Carolyn's sake.

Jack….Jack was different. Jack gave him an emotion he hadn't felt since childhood. It was hard to describe that feeling. It wasn't sex, lust, or desire. Nothing he felt toward a grown woman. She was….fun. A sister, one of many he had in foster homes as a young child. Her hero worship of him amused him. The way she clung to him was…..flattering.

He tried not to…..but he began to feel for her and when he saw her holding Junner's gun and standing over Chillingsworth's bleeding corpse, he didn't know what to think. He saw himself…..after his first kill. The wide shocked eyes, the lost of innocence, holding that smoking gun and staring at a figure that had been breathing and screaming seconds earlier. And knowing….knowing that you were the one who ended that figure's ability to breath, speak, and live.

Riddick saw himself in her those horrible moments. Riddick remembered back to his first kill. His very first time he ended a life.

He had been eight years old when his foster father attacked him with a knife. Riddick never knew the man's name. When he was dropped off at that home, the man told him to just call him uncle. And Riddick did. The man had came home drunk and screaming senseless things and sometimes hit his wife, Riddick's foster mother.

One night, he went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. Why he chose to kill Riddick, Riddick would never know. Riddick had stayed up that night watching the vid when the man stormed in screaming at him. He screamed incoherent things and lunged at Riddick.

Riddick ran to the living room and for the gun that 'uncle' had hidden. The shot fired and the man lay dead on the floor. Riddick had stared at him for almost an hour. He stared at the corpse till a hysterical woman screamed and called the police. He was taken away to a psychiatric hospital for children where he spent two years. He had been told that 'uncle' had been suffering from fits of schizophrenia and had probably seen a new face as an intruder in his home.

Hopefully now Jack was with Imam on New Mecca getting the life he never had. If only Riddick knew that she was being raped right now by a Rykengoll on another planet far away.

Things had been easier with Rakka at first. She was just another woman who feared him, which was good and meant she was smart. He enjoyed frightening her and sexually teasing her. She was sweet to his sexual tastes and him being the only man to ever touch her excited him. It made him feel as if she belonged to him. When he saw her on Toombs' lap and liplocking……he was willing to slit her throat and watch her bleed.

He pulled over to a corner where a tempting hooker was waiting. She grinned when she saw his physique. Finally, a sexy john she wouldn't mind pulling tricks for.

"Like what ya see, sugar?" She asked leaning toward him.

Riddick glanced her over. She was pretty and young, but he could smell the scent of other men on her. He used to never minded since he was there for a quick fuck, but…..he remember the scent of himself on Rakka's body. . . His scent and his scent along . . . he felt repugnant toward this woman.

"It's not the looks, sweetheart, it's the smell." He gave the engine gas and sped off while the hooker screamed at his retreating vehicle and flipped him off.

It wasn't long before saw another walking down the street. She was pretty, not beautiful, but easy on the eyes. He pulled over and she halted. She at least smelled clean.

She leaned over to his open window and grinned. "You look ready, hon."

She was indicating his care chest. Riddick touched his chest; he had left his shirt with Rakka. . . with her lithe body, soft skin, deep blue-violet eyes, nice tits, sweet mouth, and enthusiasm that almost matched his own.

"Ain't ya cold, baby?" The woman leered. "Wanna give me some UDs and I warm ya up."

"Yeah, I'm cold." Riddick replied. He left his shirt with Rakka. He rolled up the window to the hooker's surprise. He did a u-turn over turning trash cans and making the hooker scream at him, calling him crazy. Hell, maybe he was.

* * *

Mimi's mother had cried and kissed Mimi's face and limbs. She wept over the welts on her child's body. She cried and thanked Rakka and kissed her cheek. She wanted to thank Riddick, but he was not there. He would never be there again.

Noa had been very worried about her, saying that she should never have gone off into the dangerous parts of the island. She claimed that Rakka should have sent Riddick on his own and that she should have returned to the safety of the Liika family compound.

Rakka assured her it was nothing at all to bring her child back. She refused dinner, saying that she was tired and needed to shower. Noa offered to help her change, but Rakka politely turned her down.

She went to her room and showered. She folded Riddick's shirt neatly on the bed and after she dried her body, she pulled it over her head. It was huge and if she slipped the straps off her shoulders, it would fall off her body and pool at her ankles. It barely concealed her breasts with the wide rings for Riddick's shoulders and neck. The worst of it was that…..it smelled just like him. She hugged it around her body and tried to feel him through it.

She crawled into bed with pulling on any underwear. She curled the shirt and blankets around her body. Riddick, she was never to feel his body again….which was fine. She wiped away a tear. Now she was truly alone. Well, she was alone when she was with him. He was never there for her emotionally.

She dozed off. The door open and she woke up from the light shining on her eyes. It was probably Noa or Io checking on her….but the dark frame in the light had narrow hips, broad shoulders, not a feminine hourglass shape. At first, she thought it was Loyal, but he wasn't bald.

She sat up, and her right breast was revealed as the shirt refuse to fit her small frame. Riddick was standing shirtless in the doorway.

"I came for my shirt." He said tilted his head toward her.

She smiled, for once crying tears from happiness. "You want? Come get it."

Riddick stepped inside and shut the behind him. "You sure about that? I play for keeps."

She hugged the shirt possessively around her. "I'll let you keep me if you let me keep the shirt."

The mattress sagged as Riddick placed a knee on it and started crawling toward her. His muscles moved smoothly beneath his skin. He looked like a large, exotic jungle cat. He looked as smooth and sleek as a jungle cat in the dark. He nudged her onto her back and placed his weight on her.

Soon, the shirt was on the floor.

* * *

In the morning, Riddick's pants and boots were on the floor. His goggles rested on the bedstead within easy reach. Rakka opened her eyes slowly and wince from the morning light filtering through the window and into her eyes. She shifted to turn onto her other side, away from the light, and noticed the thick arm laying on her side and the muscular legs against hers.

Riddick made a soft sound in his throat. Whether it was a 'good morning' or a protest to her moving, she didn't know. She shifted and noticed that Riddick's seed still oozed from her body. It was no surprised…they had gone three rounds.

She turned her head to see the clock. 10:40 A.M. She winced; she hated getting up so late in the morning. The morning was almost over and they had missed breakfast. Riddick, with his eyes closed, reached up one hand, took up his goggles, and pulled them over his eyes.

She felt something getting hard on her thigh. "Riddick….I….I want to get up now. I want to check on Mimi and her mother."

"Real quick." Riddick pulling her close to his chest.

She offered up a small protest as he rolled atop her. She was already wet from his seed from last night. By the time he had position himself between her thighs and pinned her hands by her head, he was ready for intercourse. He entered her in one smooth stroke.

She felt a moment of discomfort, but she was already lubricated for his penetration and took it well. She really wasn't in the mood for a quickie, but struggling and giving protests seemed to arouse Riddick, making him want to prove his dominance over her.

His body pressed her into the mattress as he thrust into her body. Her cheek pressed into his shoulder for that he was so much taller than her, they couldn't face each other in missionary position. She could hear is breath quickening within his chest as his passion rose. A dull whimper emitted from her lips as his pace quickened and then he released himself deep inside her. He lifted himself off her withdrawing from her body. He inhale and exhale stirring strands of hair on her brow. He kissed her mouth and said, "Told ya it would be quick. Later, I'll fuck you long and hard."

Memories of last night made her quiver with desire. "Riddick, you're going to make me too sore to sit down on anything hard."

"You still have a mouth." Riddick replied and rolled off her.

She furrowed her brows at that last comment and decided not to say anything. He was going to stay with her for now and she was happy. She couldn't fight it….the sex was great and she felt safer with him around.

"I'm going to have get these washed." She indicated the sheets stained with sweat, saliva, tears, her fluids, and Riddick's seeds.

Riddick sat up and Rakka feasted upon the muscles and shoulders on his back and the long trail of his spine and it covered and restrained by caramel skin. She reached up and touched him by placing her palm flat on his back, below the heart and left of the spine.

"Sweet spot." Riddick sighed.

She grinned and stroked his skin for a second and got up. "I'm going to the shower."

"So am I."

"Riddick, I'm too…."  
"I want to rinse off."

He was honest. He made no attempts with her body, nor touched her unnecessarily. The shower was small and they did have to brush against each other. She watched his body, the play of muscle and skin which came together beautifully. She placed her arms around his torso and hugged him. The feel of his body felt so good.

He flinched, tensed, and brushed her arms aside. He got out of the shower and grabbed a towel and began to dry off.

She blinked her eyes and watched him. Of course, she was foolish. They weren't lovers, they weren't even a couple. They were just sex partners who needed something from each other. She needed his protection and he wanted….her body. That was the only thing she could think of that he would want from her.

She turned off the water and stepped out. She grabbed the second towel and patted at her wet body. Riddick was already in the bedroom pulling on his pants.

"Are you going somewhere today?" She asked as she stepped into the bedroom.

"Gonna go into the city. Check up on some shit." He pulled on his shirt.

"I've been meaning to ask you…..how safe are we?" Rakka asked. "I mean, will we be attacked like we were the day we arrived on this planet?"

Riddick sat down on the bed and grabbed his boots. "Yeah, we will be."

She stared at him and stopped rubbing her hair with the towel. She had expected a 'no' or 'I don't think so'. "Why do you say that?"

"Toombs. The merc you liplocked with last night."

"I didn't know he was a merc." She returned.

"He's in town and he knows I'm here and so far he hasn't even tried to come near us. Makes me wonder."

She wrapped the towel around herself. "Do you think he'll attack us here?"

"Maybe."

"That's why you're going to the city?"

"That and some other shit."

"Riddick, tell me."

"Nothin' you need to worry about."

"I'm already worried!" Rakka moved closer to him. "Please stay with me today."

"I'll be back before night." Riddick replied firmly. He stood up and headed for the door. He looked back at her and said, "I got a com with me. I wrote the signal down. It's near the bed. Something happens call me and that's the only time you call me."

He walked through the door before Rakka could asked if was going to call her.

* * *

Riddick pulled the hover up to the temple gates. A cleric came out to greet him and he demanded to see the Head Priest.

A few moments later, the Head Priest came out the gates and leered at Riddick. "What are you doing here? Her cunt got too sore?"

"Naw, just lettin' her breath before the hard stuff." Riddick replied.

"Use lots of lube. Makes her cunt slick and makes it last longer before it gets sore."

"You sure you didn't use to be a pimp?" Riddick asked tilting his head.

"Why? You lookin' for something fresher than Rakka?"

"Naw, I'm lookin' for a skank. Hitomian, long blonde hair, large green eyes, likes to hang around a merc."

"Got big tits?"

"Bigger than Rakka's."

"No offense to your choice of women, but my shit is bigger than her tits."

"How the hell did you become a priest?"

The Head Priest shrugged. "Some bright eyed skanks, the bitches that hang around here, showed up in my bar and said the Seer claimed that I was chosen to aid the Furyan who is gonna knock up some holy bimbo so she can squeeze some holy bastard out of her cunt."

"What did you say?"

"How much is the pay?"

"I'm still lookin' for this broad."

"Blonde hair, green eyes, and big tits. Where did you see her?"

"Strip bar."

"One in downtown? Big place with a stage for skanks to play with each other and small rooms in the back for hookers and johns?"

"That's the one."

"Then she can only be Lilia Kunas. One of Chural Kunas' bastard kids. She's the one he sends to 'persuade' business partners to see things his way."

"I saw her with a merc. Toombs."

"Don't know the name, but I do know that Chural Kunas has been in touch with a group of mercs."

"He must be offering Toombs a lot to keep him off my ass." Riddick murmured.

"He's waiting on you. Chural, not Toombs I mean." The Head Priest stepped off the steps and stood close to Riddick, his voice low. "Everybody got their eyes on you and her. They know you two are fucking, but they're waiting for Rakka to have a bun in her oven. Everybody wants a piece of whatever kid you and she are gonna have. And they are willing to tear you two apart to get it."

"They're gonna find themselves in pieces if they try anything stupid." Riddick said evenly.

"The only reason why Rakka isn't already knocked up is because you two are usin' birth control. This is good if you want to enjoy the fuck without worrying about changing diapers in 9 months, but they don't know that you are using birth control. Everyone thinks that you are fucking without protection and they're waitin' on Rakka to start puking her guts out in the morning. If they find out that you two are being careful….they'll help the impregnation process along….know what I mean…."

Riddick stared ahead at the gates giving no sign that he heard.

"I don't mean that they'll take you into a bathroom with a cup and then baste Rakka's insides with your cum. If they did that, the Temple won't recognize the kid. Gotta be natural. Not from dick to baster to cunt. Dick to cunt. They'll keep you drugged up and fucking till she's got her oven full. They'll hand you over to the Mercs and keep her. While you waste away inside a Slam, she's gonna waste away in a hospital, being kept on her back and drugged. Oh, they'll claim it's for the good her health and that of the Holy Child, but they want to keep her from preventing them from taking the kid. When they get that kid, they may hand her over to mercs or sell her ass off into slavery, fuck if I know. The Family heads are so fuckin' power hungry, they sure as hell ain't gonna bow their heads down to some long lost princess and put a crown on her head and put a scepter in her hand. They'll raise the kid and claim whatever power they can get. You'll never see Rakka again and you'll never see the kid."

"There ain't gonna be a kid."

"That's what my parents said, then I came along and out went my dad." The Head Priest leaned forward. "Riddick, you need to get her off this planet and far away."

"How do I know you ain't gonna try and get a piece of us?" Riddick asked.

"The Seer is on your side. She sez there's gonna be a kid and I believe her. But she doesn't want the kid around here and I don't blame her. Things are getting heated between Liika and Kunas over you two. You best watch yourself and her. The moment they find out that you two don't intend to have a kid, they are gonna start fighting over you. That's why Chural hired out Toombs, extra and more experience fire power. Just because they are a bunch of skanks, don't mean they can't get johns to do their dirty work."

"I need a ship."

"I can get you a ship. Won't be easy and it'll take a while. I do have the connections, but it'll take time."

"How long?"

"A week, maybe more. I can get on it right now. I can't promise you the best ship, but it will get you off the planet and somewhere else. You got somethin' to protect yourself and Rakka?"

Riddick pulled the shiv from his hip and twirled expertly with his fingers.

"I can get you a coupla guns and more shivs. Oh hell, yeah! Fuck, I forgot! Last time you were here, Seer wanted me to give ya somethin'. Something from Furya."

The Head Priest whistled and a cleric appeared. He sent her to get an item from his office and she hurried off to obey. She came back a few minutes later carrying an engraved box. She offered it out to Riddick.

Riddick didn't take it, instead he lifted it open with the tip of the shiv. Inside was curved twin blades. They were curved over with black handles and had teeth along the curves, before slipping into curves with lethal blades to sharp points. Riddick eased his hand inside and grasped a hand. It felt light in his hand and felt good as his fingers curled around the handle.

He twisted and flipped it in his hand. It glided with ease and precision. Something that was hard to attain in home made shivs. He ran a thumb along the edge. If he applied do much as the slightest pressure, it would draw blood.

"Knew you'd like 'em." The Head Priest said with a grin. "Relics from Furya. Those were their top warriors' most desired weapons. Furyans liked close hand to hand combat over firing range weapons. These were somehow rescued from the destruction on their planet. The Seer believes they came from their most dominate clan."

"What else ya got?"

* * *

Mimi and her mother were invited to stay with a family within the Liika Family compound. Mimi's mother was even offered a job to work in the silk sheds.

Rakka spent an afternoon visiting Mimi and her mother. The woman kept thanking her and offering her anything from preparing a meal for her or loaning her money. Rakka steadily refused to accept anything.

Rakka left and to head back to the Liika Family mansion. Riddick should be back soon and no doubt he would want to see her. She anticipated hearing whatever news he had of Toombs. She remembered back to the likable man in the bar and she….she had to blush from embarrassment. Second man she ever kissed and he may be willing to put her away in a Slam.

She noticed Sunna walking hand in hand with a man she hadn't seen before. He was tall and she noticed that he shared the same facial features with Sunna. He had to be her father. He was Hitomian with lime green eyes.

He looked up and noticed Rakka. She raised a hand in greeting, and then froze. He gave her the nastiest look she had ever received from anyone. She half expected him to start screaming obscenities at her. He looked at her as if she threw mud at him.

He scooped Sunna into his arms and stalked off into a shop. Rakka stared at the door he walked through shocked and confused. Did she do something offensive without realizing it? Something that only Hitomians found offensive?

"Hello, Blessed Rakka Laotaner." She heard a male voice from behind her. She turned to see Loyal walking up to her side.

"He…hello." She said still stunned.

"I see that you….'met' Erroll, Blessed Sunna's father and Io's husband." Loyal said a little embarrassed. "I…apologize for him."

"I heard of love at first sight, but hate…." Rakka murmured. "What did I do?"

"Nothing bad. For him, you showed up."

"I don't understand."

Loyal swallowed. "Let's go inside and I'll explain."

He offered her his arm. She accepted it, drawing her arms through his, but she kept in mind to stand her distance, lest she gave him ideas she didn't want to give him.

He took her inside the Liika Family mansion and started to brew some hot tea while she sat at the table. "You see, Erroll didn't use to be part of the Liika Family. He used to be Erroll Nelara. He came to this planet's island six years ago for business. He was exporting our silk for traders and he met Io. He managed to convince her that he was in love with her and married her in order to have a bid at being apart of a rich family. He wasn't very much respected, him being from outside the Liika family."

Rakka sat at the kitchen table absorbing this news. "But when Sunna was born and she was a Blessed Child, everyone's attitude changed toward him."

"You got it." He replied. He began to pour the tea into a serving pot. "He not only got respect from the Liika family, but also from the Kunas. He spoils his daughter rotten because it's because of her that he's having the power that he has now. Or should I say had."

"I showed up and it took the zest out of Sunna's fame." Rakka realized.

"That's right." Loyal served the teapot and teacups. "Sunna is no longer the little princess of the island anymore. A true princess has come and I think Sunna knows it. She kept saying she wants you to go away and not come back."

Rakka blushed. "You mean a second princess."

"No, I mean…." Loyal sipped his tea and sat across from her. "I mean that it was believed that Sunna was to be the Blessed Mother. When you showed up, you took her place as the Blessed Mother in Erroll's eyes."

"Blessed Mother?"

"You know." Loyal laughed. "The one who will give birth to the One who will bring us back to Hitomi."

Rakka stared at him.

Loyal stared back. "You do know that Riddick is a Furyan. Quite possibly the last and quite strong as well. We believe him to be the Blessed Father."

Rakka blinked.

"Actually, we know he's the Blessed Father as we know that you are the Blessed Mother. You are of….excuse me saying this so boldly…age to have children. And for you to arrive with the last Furyan and he is your lover…it could only mean that…."

So many things Rakka wanted to do: shout, scream, yell, cry, snarl, sob, speak, and even do….but then a rough callous hand dropped onto the back of her neck startling her. She looked up to see Riddick standing close to her.

"Lets go." He squeezed her neck.

She stood without speaking. Loyal watched them leave the kitchen and toward the stairs. He sipped his tea. Any day now the announcement will be made of Rakka's pregnancy and he will rejoice with the rest of his people at the blessed news.

Riddick led Rakka up the stairs and saw Noa standing in the doorway of her room. Riddick smirked at her guided Rakka to walk close to his side, her side brushing against his. Noa glared at him, her gray eyes darkening to almost twin black pools.

Rakka gave Noa a quick glance and mistook her look of hatred as naked lust. She looked away and could almost feel Riddick gazing back at Noa with lust. If she wasn't so freaked over what Loyal told her she would have commented that Riddick should take Noa to their bedroom, not her.

After Riddick stepped inside behind her, he locked the door. She spun to him and said, "Riddick, this place is some crazy cult! They think we're some holy parents who are gonna have a kid that's going to be their savior!"  
"I know."

"You know?"

"I know."

"When?"  
"The first night, from Ori Kunas."

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" She screamed.

Riddick slammed a hand across her mouth. "Keep it down."

She sputtered, and swatted his hand away. She hissed, "Why did you not tell me? If you knew then why did you let us come here?"  
"Listen, I didn't have a ship and I didn't know who the enemies were. Had to play along so's I could find out. I do now, and we'll be leaving this rock soon."

"But you SHOULD have told me!"  
"If I had told you, you would have panic like ya are now and would have got our asses in a sling."

She remembered the pregnancy kit. "That's why you wanted me to take that pregnancy test! You were afraid that I was pregnant with their 'savior'. That's why you were worried! You got scared that…."

"Lady, I don't get scared."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about something as serious as this!" She hissed. She jabbed a finger toward his chest. "Why don't you tell me the whole truth about not telling me, huh? You knew that if I found out about this Blessed Child shit, I wouldn't let you anywhere near me!"  
"I got us birth control."

"That's not the point! I had every right to now what these people intended for me! They can fucking forget it! I'll go out there right now and tell those bastards that I'm not some baby factory for their cult!"

She started forward, but Riddick shoved her back. She almost stumbled and fell to the floor. She froze on the spot feeling Riddick glaring at her through his goggles.

"Don't start being a stupid bitch now, Rakka." He stepped forward and she stepped back. "They're desperate for a kid from us. There's a feud heatin' up between the Liika Family and the Kunas Family over us. Kunas Family hired out mercs to catch us and the Liika Family is willin' to drug us till were nuthin', but droolin' husks. You go out there bitching and screamin' and things will get bad quick."

Rakka's face blanched. "Is….it really that dangerous?"

"Shit, Rakka, I went by the Temple and spoke with the Head Priest. That sonovabitch got me some shivs and guns earlier. He's usin' connections to get us a ship."

"Can….we trust him?"

"Don't know. So far he's been straight with me, but I'm watchin' him."

"I…I don't understand why they're waiting for me to get pregnant. Why not ask for a sperm sample from you and an egg from me and get some other woman pregnant? Why wait around for me to get pregnant?"

"Cuz the Temple don't like any other fertility options other than the natural way between a man and a woman. Gotta be done by us and only us."

Rakka turned and went to the couch. She flopped down, overwhelmed and numb with shock. "When…do we leave?"

"As soon as I can get our asses on a ship." Riddick replied. "Till then, act as if you don't know shit."

"I….I don't think that…."

"Don't think, do. If you let on that we're usin' birth control, they're gonna have you so fucked up with drugs and have me fuckin' you…."

"Stop it!" She sobbed into her hands. "I…I can't believe that you didn't tell me! Was….am…am I stupid?" She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I….How could…how can you know all of this and not me? Am I so goddamn blind that I don't see…..shit!"

"You saw what you wanted to see." Riddick said casually. "It only looked like what you wanted and you believed it."

"Is there anything else?" She asked. "Anything that I don't know, that you do know? Anything else about me?"

Riddick stared at her. Thoughts of a lost royal family, a long lost princess, Laotaner Family flitted through his head.

"No, you know everything now."


	21. Calm

Rakka swallowed and stood. "I…I need to lie down."

"I'll be there."

"Riddick, I don't think…."

"Fuck! Not this shit again!"  
"This time I _mean _it!" Rakka snapped. "I don't want to have a baby with you and have these cultist take it away!"

"There ain't gonna be a baby!"

"You mean as long as I use the pills! They are not 100 percent full proof! They are 98 percent affective! Meaning that there is a 2 percent chance of me getting pregnant! 2 out of 100 women who use these pills will get pregnant using them and knowing my luck, I'll be one of the two!"

"You know there are other ways of fucking which don't end up in pregnancy." Riddick smirked.

"You said I give lousy blowjobs."

"I wasn't talkin' 'bout your mouth."

Rakka sat down as if protecting her bottom from him. "I…um…that'll hurt."

"We got lube and I'll fuck slow."

Riddick walked over to her side and wrapped his fingers around her arm and lifted her to stand. She wanted to resist, to shrug out of his grasp, but there was something hypnotic about him, a hypnotism that he didn't possess before. He guided her to the bed and pushed her lightly to sit. She watch him head to the bathroom for the tube of lubricants.

Rakka swallowed. She wasn't sure she wanted to have anal sex with Riddick. He was rough enough with her vagina, no telling how badly he could hurt her during anal sex. Besides, how much pleasure could she get from being anally penetrated than vaginally?

He emerged from the bathroom wearing no shirt. She drank in his masculine chest and stomach. She remembered back to last night of his body pressing against hers. Hard, and smooth, and warm. She closed her eyes and remembered the sounds of his groans as he entered her and his concentrated growls as he thrust into her body. The feeling of him inside her, filling her and releasing warmth inside her belly as he climaxed.

She opened her eyes and he was standing close to her. A large calloused hand touched her lips and slid a thick finger into her mouth. Her hands rose to touch his wrist as she suckled his digit. She paused to draw his second finger into her mouth with her tongue. She learned a lot from Riddick last night.

He lowered his hand to her chin and tilted her face. His mouth touched the pulse at her throat. She tilted her head back, releasing his fingers from her lips and sighed. Riddick wasn't being affectionate, he was being seductive.

She undid the seals of the robe and let it pool at their feet. She pushed her pants down her legs and kicked them off. Riddick liked getting down to the 'bare' stuff quick. She removed her bra and kicked off her panties.

Riddick cupped the back of her head and draw her up to him. His full lips claimed hers, his tongue assaulting hers. Her hands touched his chest, near his collarbones. Her erect nipples tingled as they brushed against his ribs.

She knew Riddick wasn't much for kissing. He preferred having her on her back and he finger and touch her till she was wet enough for penetration. He was doing this more for seducing and relaxing her enough to give into him. Sadly, she thought, it was working.

She broke the kiss and pressed her face into his chest. She darted her pink tongue across his brown nipple. She closed her lips over it, standing on her toes, her arms around him. She sucked it and tugged a bit with her teeth gently. Her hand slid over his smooth muscular stomach. She was a junkie getting her fix.

She allowed Riddick to turn her around and crawled onto the bed. He crawled with her, her body beneath his and he began bunching the blankets and pillows beneath her. Soon she was arranged on the pile with her ass slightly raised. She felt Riddick lean over her and kiss on her on the shoulder.

She looked over her shoulder and saw him snap off the top of the tube of lubricant. He squeezed some onto two of his fingers and smear the lube with his thumb. She inhaled to calm herself as Riddick started to prod her anus with two fingers. She shifted.

"Be still." He commanded in dark gravel voice.

She froze and she felt him pushed his middle finger in to the first knuckle. He pushed further and withdrew. He poured more lube on his digit and then eased it inside. He pushed past the resisting muscle making Rakka wince. It wasn't as painful as she had expected, it was so unusual.

He twirled his finger inside and she had to emit a soft mmm. It felt…. 'good'. One hand worked at her asshole while the other was placed on her lower back. Soon a second finger slipped inside. He pulled them out and pushed them back inside. She sighed, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

He removed his fingers and she glanced over her shoulder and saw him undoing his pants. She swallowed and forced herself to look away. As much as she liked looking at his size, she knew it would intimidate her out of this.

She listened to the slick sounds of Riddick lubing his penis and gasped when more lube was drizzled onto her asshole. His fingers smeared it around her opening and he slipped his fingers in and out making sure she was slicked enough. He positioned himself behind her and slipped an arm around her hips. Her bottom was pressed against his thighs and his hot member ran along the base of her spine. She tensed her body ready for the inevitable penetration.

"Relax." He whispered. A hand touched her shoulder and his fingers stroked her muscle. "Relax or it's gonna hurt."

"You're not exactly gentle." Rakka replied.

"Trust me. I'll be gentle."

"Gentle as a lamb or gentle as a jackhammer?"

"You got a cunt. I can fuck that instead."

She struggled to roll onto her back to face him, but he slipped a hand beneath her chest and lifted her up. Her shoulders blades pressed against his chest and she was raised up on her knees. She felt his penis prod the base of her back, right above the curve of her ass. He lowered his head and she felt his breath on her ear. She swallowed and raised her hands wrapping around his neck from behind. His hands slid up her ribs toward her breasts.

She pressed her head back into his collar bones. His hand slid from her left breast to stroke up her throat and cupped her chin. He puckered her lips with a squeeze and he kissed her upside down. Her eager tongue responded to his while other hand slid down her belly. He hooked his fingers between her outer folds and teased her clitoris. She 'hmmm' against his mouth. This was where she wanted it.

She broke the kiss and said, "The pills….."  
Riddick released her chin and reached to the pocket at his pants legs. He removed a packet that he had bought from last night and punched one out with his fingers. He dropped the packet onto the bed sheets. He pressed the pill to her lips, which she accepted and swallowed.

She turned to press her body against his. She stroked the back of his neck up to curve along his shaved skull. It felt sharp and spiky; he would need to shave it again soon. His lips and teeth nipped and snatched at her face sending sweet sparks through her shoulders.

His erection was hot and throbbing against her belly. He leaned forward and she found herself on her back on the pile of blankets. Riddick lifted her hips and shifted his. He guided himself to her opening and rolled his hips forward entering her in one smooth stroke. She groaned slightly arching her back. The delicious sweet hot feeling of him inside her enthralled her every time.

"You like having me inside you." She heard him whisper above her.

She could only reply with a soft hmmmm.

"Tell me."

"Tell you what…?" She breathed. She shifted her hips and she sank further down onto him. She groaned, she wanted him to stop talking and starting moving within her.

"Tell me how much you want me." Riddick whispered.

"I want you a lot." She sighed lustily. She bucked her hips against his urging him to start.

Riddick shifted his hips, moving slightly. "You can do better than that."

She groaned with frustration and rocked her body back and forward to lift herself off and back onto him, fucking herself on him. He caught her legs by cupping the back of her knees and curled her legs to her shoulders.

"Riddick, stop." She didn't like the awkward feel of having her legs in such a position. Riddick placed her legs over his arms and leaned forward. Her body was almost folded in half with him still within her.

"Tell me how much you want me and I'll start fucking." His breath was warm on her face and she swallowed.

"Riddick, you are important to me as morphine is to a junkie." She replied.

"Honest enough."

He withdrew and thrust forward. She cried out, her arms about his shoulders. She writhed as he fucked her. Not loving making, not sex, pure animal lust fucking. Then it was over. She climaxed seconds after he climaxed deep within her. He withdrew from her body and lifted himself off her. Beads of sweat rolled off his side and dripped onto her body. She sighed, full and satisfied.

* * *

Toombs took a swig from a brandy bottle from the counter. Usually he was drowsy after a fuck and wanted a quick nap before the next go, but however, he received a certain message.

Lilia, wearing a green silken robe that matched her eyes, appeared in the doorway. She looked at him and smoothed her hair down from her face. "I not please you anymore?"

"Sweetheart, I could fuck you all fucking night long. Tonight, I gotta go somewhere. If I get back in time, you and me can pick up where we left off."

He set the bottle aside. Lilia approached him, her silken robe whistled as she moved. It clung to her body enough to tell him that she wore nothing under the silk. Hitomian women and their silk…..nice.

He was shirtless; he was going to throw on a jerkin and a vest with gun and gear. She touched his side where a scar lined his ribs. "What happened here?"

"Goddamn bounty took a swing with a shiv. Missed the bone and got the skin instead."

Lilia knelt, her hands at his side. She ran her full lips over the scar making tingles shoot up his spine. She even ran her tongue along it.

She stood, sliding her hands up his back and belly. She touched a scar at his back along his shoulder blade. "Here?"  
"Shot from behind."

It got the same treatment.

She searched his body, touching his marred aspect of his body and asked about it and he told her origin. She touched the scar near his eye. "Did you almost loose this eye?"

"Yeah, sweets. Some fuckers goofed up while body searching a bounty. Fucker got loose and tried to take my eye out. I filled his belly full of lead before he could go for the other eye."

She touched the fresh scar on his arm. The scab had fallen off days ago thanks to fast healing medications donated by Chural Kunas. "This looks new."

"That purple bitch got me there. Slut grabbed a piece of glass and damn near took my arm off."

"I'll do something special for it." Her hands slid down his chest to his belt. She unbuckled his belt as she knelt. She shrugged off the robe and sure enough she was naked under the robe.

His erection nearly sprang from his pants as she grasped it with soft hands. She teasingly kissed the head, and she took it into her mouth. He sighed as her warm mouth engulfed him. She expertly bobbed her head giving him all lips and tongue, no teeth just like he liked it.

He leaned against the counter and gyrate his hips slightly. She looked up at him with her green eyes and smiled at him from behind his cock. His hand touched her hair and stroked it away from her face.

She stopped only to suckled his balls and stroke his belly. She pulled his pants down to his thighs, her hands coming around his cup his ass. She took him back into her mouth and resumed bobbing, this time stroking the curves of his ass.

His breathing deepened; inhaling and exhaling through his mouth. He had a handful of Lilia's hair and tilted her head back. She looked back at him while she bobbed on him.

Lilia was a nice fuck and she gave great blowjobs. The thing about experienced woman who could fuck expertly was that they were fun for a while, but he got bored. Oh, Lilia was sweet and was willing to let him give it to her anyway he wanted, but he always liked a little….resistance. Lilia was already broken. Either by her father or another man, he didn't know. She was already a fuck slave without a collar or a leash. Only reason she was here on her knees sucking him off was to please her dear old (very old) daddy.

He mentally replaced Lilia's green eyes with blue-violet ones and Lilia's blonde hair darkened into copper. Yeah, the sweet little 50 mil bounty. He never really got the little bitch back for stabbing him back on Haven.

She had a sweet mouth. She tasted good to him in the bar. Fuck, if dear old Riddick boy hadn't shown up, maybe he and Lilia and the bitch would have gone upstairs and into private room.

Lilia deep throated him. He moaned as she reflexively gagged on his length, the quick massage fluttered through his belly. He tightened his grip on Lilia's hair and stood straight. She took him all into her mouth and he felt him go partway down her throat. He came and she swallowed every drop, very expertly. The woman gasped for breath and licked her lips. She leaned forward and suckled the tip of him to draw any drop within him into her mouth and down her throat.

"Thanks babe." He put himself away and buckled his belt.

She licked her lips against and pulled her robe on as she stood. He threw her a bone by kissing her on the forehead.

* * *

Toombs leaned against the counter inside an old bar. The walls had holes from old gun fights, the bartender was fat and tired, and there were no topless waitresses. The booze was lousy and tasted as if it was watered down with water.

His contact better hurry the fuck up or he was gonna go pick up a young hooker and…..

The double doors creaked opened and a hooded figure walked inside. Toombs wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and regarded the stranger. The stranger approached him removed his hood. He was a Hitomian man with blue eyes and graying hair.

"Housa gramps." Toombs muttered.

"I believe that you are Mr. Toombs." The man said. "Please, may we sit in a more private area of this establishment?"

"Sure, hon, and ya gonna buy me a drink?" Toombs replied. "Cut the bullshit and get straight with me. Who the fuck are you and why the fuck am I here in nowhere's land and not back at my room fucking Chural Kunas's sweet little girl?"

"Very well. I do believe that you are in the right of requesting an explanation. I am Erroll Liika."

"No shit." Toombs muttered. "And why the hell is someone from the Liika family wanna speak with someone currently employed with the people who've been crawling up your ass the past 100 years?"

"I am quite new to the situation between Liika and Kunas. I married into the Liika family and my wife gave birth to a Blessed child, my three year old Sunna."

Toombs grunted. "Cute."

"Are you familiar with the Blessed Children? And the prophecy concerning Mr. Riddick and Ms. Rakka Laotaner?"

Toombs shrugged. Lilia spoke to him in great detail of it, which he ignored while staring at her chest. Enough of the details slipped through about how it was Riddick's sacred duty to fuck the Rakka bitch until she was knocked up. Then she was gonna give birth to some holy moly shmuck.

"I know that any kid born with purple eyes is considered holy."

"Not just purple. Blue-violet, that shocking color of blue and purple combined. Do you know it means faithfulness and in a wedding the flowers blue-violets represent love?"

"I ain't here for a lesson. You want me for something, talk."

"Very well. It concerns my daughter."

"Whoa, waitaminute. If you're offering the same deal old granddaddy Chural Kunas did, sorry, but I ain't into kids."

"No!" Erroll sputtered. "I am not offering her to you! Let me explain! My daughter was the Blessed Child of this island. Everyone adored and highly respected her. She was expected to be the Blessed Mother when she came of age. Alas, Rakka Laotaner, the long lost princess of Hitomi arrived and took away my daughter's title."

"Waitaminute! Princess?" Toombs paused in mid swig. "You tellin' me that the lady with 50 mil bounty on her head and the holy moly mamma is also a fuckin' princess? How the fuck did that happened?"

"It appears that the prince of Hitomi, Luac Laotaner, had escaped the devastation visited upon our planet. He met Rakka's mother and they married had a legitimate child together, and Rakka is that child. After his death from disease, in the eyes of the Sight and Temple she is the princess of Hitomi."

"And I almost got a royal fuck." Toombs muttered.

"Anyways, since the Temple and the Liika and Kunas families truly believe that Rakka is to be the Holy Mother, it has made things difficult for my child."

"Gramps, don't fucking play with me and make yourself out as the carin' daddy." Toombs replied. "You're pissed because the sweetheart showed up and stole the spotlight from your kid and now you won't go down in history as the granddaddy of the holy kid."

"That renown does have its advantages." Erroll admitted readily. "I need your help."

"First, let's talk about prices." Toombs finished his drink and licked his lips. "You gonna match Kunas's offer?"

"Possibly, if you're willing to listen before you decide."

"Talk, I'm listenin', but make it good."

"Very well." Erroll swallowed. "Yesterday, Io was cleaning Rakka Laotaner and Riddick's room when she happened to find something that very much disturbed us. A small purple purse containing a birth control tablet."

Toombs whistled through his teeth. "Good golly, people takin' responsibility and not wantin' kids from a good time."

"This is no joke! We were surprised that Rakka and Riddick would use such….things. We took no chances in confronting them. Noa, she is next in line to take over the Liika Family, came up with the plan. Tomorrow, Noa will offer to give Rakka a massage inside the women's Water Room. It's a place where Hitomian women go to replenish their strength and enjoy the 'joys' of womanhood. Where they come together to heal and renew themselves."

"It's a spa." Toombs replied.

"Yes, I believe it could also be called that." Erroll amended. "Tomorrow Noa will make sure that Rakka is in the Water Room and will drug her. Riddick will be led to an introduction with Silla, the Liika Family head, where he will be apprehended and drugged."

"Easier said than done." Toombs replied. "You know how many mercs that bastard ghosted. I lost four crews to that sonovbitch."

Erroll blanched, but remained composed. "I assure you we have the situation under control. Riddick will be drugged. The plan is that have them couple in a drugged induce state until Rakka passes positive on a pregnancy test. Then we hand Riddick over to the proper authorities and Rakka will remain on the Liika Family compound until she gives birth."

"But you got other plans." Toombs grinned.

"That I do."

* * *

Rakka lay peacefully on her back. Riddick reclined beside her, his large hand resting on her belly. She turned her head look into his face. He had the same full and sated look that was on her face, but it was harder and sterner somehow. God, he was so handsome and so sexy. He wasn't a pretty boy like most of the boys she dated in school, but there was something about his looks that…..lured her and any other woman who've seen him.

She thought back to her high schools years. The way she and her friends would look at boys and talk about how hot they were and whether or not they were good kissers. When they would even try to guess how big their penises were. Rakka couldn't help, but get embarrassed when she remembered those conversations.

She lifted a hand touched his cheek. He allowed her and gave her a soft sound in the back of his throat that stirred a flame in her belly. She tried to picture herself in high school and how she would have reacted if she had met Riddick then for the first time instead of meeting him outside the campus on Haven. If he hadn't frightened her on that night and gave her such a bad first impression.

She knew she would have a crush on him at first sight. The air of potential violence would prevent her from approaching him to talk with him. She never had the confidence to flirt or wear revealing clothes. Though she doubted her mother would have let her leave the house wearing anything half as scanty as some of the girls that attended her school.

Would she had hoped that he would ask her out to dinner? Would he flirt with her as he has? Actually, she thought, it was more like sexual harassment. As hard as she could, she couldn't picture him asking her out or any woman out for that matter. She could picture him seducing or invitingly smiling, but nothing as simple as a date. The image of him giving flowers just refused to come to her mind's eye.

He wasn't an ordinary man. He would visit brothels, seduce a woman for companionship, or be seduced himself. She couldn't picture him allowing a woman to have control over him with feminine wiles though.

She swallowed and ran her hand up his side to his shoulder. He was a man that would never marry, settle down into a nice home with a woman, have children, and go off to work and return to spend time with his family. He was strong, powerful, and dominate. Women, including herself, found him almost irresistibly attractive. He had all the qualities that any man would kill to attain. He had it all, yet he had nothing.

She rolled onto her side, facing him and raised her hands to his black goggles. She paused, waiting for him to turn his head away as a negative, and then she slid his goggles up to his brow. It was dim enough in the room for him to go without his goggles. His silvery eyes met her shocking blue-violet ones.

"Riddick, I….we've came a long way, you know." She said softly.

"Haven is only a few days shuttle jump from Echo. That's not very far in astronomical terms."

"No, I wasn't talking about travel wise. I'm talking about….'us'."

Riddick inhaled deeply and released it slowly. His breath blew strands of her hair from her face. She touched the calloused hand at her hip and took with hers. His hands were so much bigger than hers. She looked at the small scars that crisscrossed his knuckles and ran her soft fingers over them.

"I…think back to that night, on Haven. When you found me in the woods….I was so afraid of you."

"And you're not now?"

She looked into his eyes. "Oh, I still am. I know what you're capable of and what you're able to do. But I….feel as if I know you more than I did then."

"You don't know anything about me." He replied stiffly.

"That's true." She replied. "That night, I thought you were going to rape me. Other times I thought you were going to."

"I thought about it." She looked up. He looked back at her. "Remember the first time we fucked? I told you it was almost five years since I last had a woman. Slams ain't got a high female population and any woman unlucky enough to get thrown into a Slam doesn't last long. Lot of lonely men are in Slams…know what I mean."

"Were you one of those lonely men?"

Riddick shifted closer to her, her breasts touching his chest. "Rakka, those women were broken as soon as they set foot inside the Slam. They got claimed by gangs and became bitches. In Slams, women are…..you know how rich people will get a pet tiger or a pet lion just to show off how rich they are? Women were used like that. You had a woman as your bitch then it meant you were high up on the chain and you were respected for that. Thing was, if you had a woman, then you had to watch out for any guys that wanted to take her from ya. Rule about women was that if she was owned by a man, you had to kill the man first before you could claim her. Unless he's willing to loan her out for a bit….."

Rakka felt the chills trickle down her spine. Was that her fate if she was caught and sent to a Slam? To be put on a leash and be owned?

"Riddick, did you ever….own a woman?"

"No." He looked at her. "But I did borrow."

Rakka bit her bottom lip and rolled onto her other side, facing away from him. She suddenly felt very cold.

* * *

"So what plan do ya have?" Toombs asked Erroll Liika.

"It involves you."

"Only if I like what I'm gonna get out of it." Toombs reminded him.

"Yes, of course. You will be paid well for your services and you can claim the bounty on Rakka, but you must leave Riddick here on Echo and on the Liika Family compound."

"Waitaminute! Do you have any fuckin idea how long I've been huntin' his ass? I ain't backin' down."

"Hear me out! Hear me out!" Erroll raised his hands. "Let me tell you of my plan."

"Make it good." Toombs growled. "Kunas Family is offerin' to hand me Riddick as soon as he knocks up that little princess bitch and 9 months after she pops later I get her ass."

"You see, Noa is going to be alone with Rakka whilst we collect Riddick. I am going to allow you inside the Liika Family Compound. You will take Rakka Laotaner and Noa Liika and do with them as you wish, as long as you take them far from Echo."

"Who the hell is Noa Liika?"

"She is the next in line for head of the Liika Family, as I said earlier. I have her picture for you right here." He reached inside his robe. Toombs tensed reflexively; hand ready to snatch his gun from his slot at his hip.

Erroll retrieved a photo from his robe and placed it on the table for Toombs' viewing. Toombs glanced at the photo of Noa Liika and whistled. He picked it up for better viewing. "Holy shit, goddamn, what a looker."

"I'm glad that you are pleased. How much do you think a pack of Rygenknolls would pay for one such as her?"

"Forget the fucking Rygenknolls. I could sell her ass on the market within the outer planets and get millions."

"Then you will take her along with Rakka."

"You bet your ass."

"Do you agree to my proposal?"

Toombs licked his upper lip. "Only thing chapping my hide is that I ain't gonna get Riddick. I thought that you needed Rakka to have this holy kid."

"Rakka is not needed. Sunna can and will become the Blessed Mother." Erroll said stiffly. "As soon as my wife becomes the Family Head, no one will question….."

"That's why you wanted the Noa broad gone too." Toombs said.

Erroll continued. "my methods for attaining the Holy Child. When Sunna comes of child bearing age….possibly around 11 or 12….."

Toombs stared at him. "Riddick may be a killer, but I don't think he's into kids."

"Do you agree to my terms? I will pay for you for taking Rakka and Noa and I will give you monthly deposits until Riddick has performed his necessary duties…"

"Between your kid's legs…."

"and I will hand him over to you."

Toombs took a swig from a bottle that he ordered. He swished the drink inside his mouth and swallowed. "I agree to it. Only becuz I don't really trust Chural Kunas. I know the only reason he's lettin' his little girl sleep with me is to get tabs on what I do. I bet she got on the horn and started squawkin' to daddy when I left. And I like the idea of getting 50 mil quicker than if I worked with Kunas."

"Then it is agreed." Erroll smiled. "1:00 is when I will expect you to arrive. I will leave a message with the guards, allowing you entry, but I suggest you conceal your weapons when you enter the compound. I want Rakka and Noa gone by 1:30."

"We can handle that."

Erroll left happy and ten minutes later Toombs got a call from a sobbing Robb over his com.

* * *

"Those things will happen to me in a Slam." Rakka said softly.

"Yeah. If you're lucky they'll spend the first few days fightin' over you."

She sat up wanting space. She wrapped a blanket around her feeling self conscious about herself. She felt Riddick's eyes on her back as she stood and headed toward the bathroom.

* * *

"Robb! Stop cryin' and tell me what the fuck is going on!" Toombs hissed into the crying com.

"Toombs! It's horrible! Oh god, it's just….oh!" Toombs waited with bated breath until Robb calmed down enough to talk. "Toombs, it's the Caretaker…..he had a stroke!"

Toombs stared at the com. "You're bellyachin' over an old man you never met?"  
"NO! You don't understand." Robb sobbed. "When he had a stroke, the opposition took over the cabinet. They removed him from office! He's no longer the leader of the Green System!"  
Toombs inhaled and exhaled slowly letting it sink it. He sat down and swallowed. "Does this have anything to do with the bounty on Rakka Laotaner?"

"Everything!" Robb sobbed. "It's off! They took off the 50 million bounty on Rakka! After the stroke and they removed his office, they searched his place, and found evidence and confessions of what happened the night his kid was killed. Something about them raping her and she shoved a pipe in his gut in self defense!"

Toombs felt empty. He felt like a metal pipe was in his gut. "So there ain't anythin' on her head? Nuthin' at all? Not even for jaywalkin' and shit…."

"As far as the law is concerned she's pure as snow. They only want to question her about the incident."

"You sure? You checked the logs and the bounty lists?"

"First thing we did after we saw the news. Fuck, she ain't even going to see the inside of a cell in the police station!"

"Fuck it!" Toombs growled. If they had only gotten her on Haven and put her in the Slam, they would have already made off with the money!

"The only bounty worth grabbing is Riddick." Robb sniffled.

"Not so fast." Toombs said quickly. "We may not get 50 million UDs, but we'll still make plenty. We'll get Riddick and some bonuses. Where are the others?"

"Leonard is throwing up in the bathroom and Benny is just staring into space. The news hit 'em hard too."

"Tell 'em to snap out of it." Toombs snapped. "I want you to get everything together. Guns loaded and ready. And get the ship prepped."

"Wh…are we gonna go after Riddick?"

"Yeah, but not now, tomorrow. Don't call me; I'll call you with the details." Toombs clicked off the signal. He began dialing a new signal, Chural Kunas's private line. It clicked as the call was accepted and an old man's voice muttered, "This better be good, Mr. Toombs. My daughter says that you left in the middle of the night like a thief. You care to explain?"

"Oh, I just had a talk with Erroll Liika." Toombs said. "It turns out that Mr. Richard B. Riddick and Ms. Rakka Laotaner have been using protection."

There was silence over the line. Then, "Go on."

* * *

Rakka showered in the dark. Despite the warmth of the water cascading over her body, she felt cold. She heard movement and saw Riddick standing naked at the bathroom door. She turned off the water, opened the glass door, and poked her head out.

"Are you coming back to bed?" He asked.

"I…the…I don't know." She replied. "You scared me in there."

"You asked and I answered."

"Did you have to go into detail about?"

"Thought you should know." He leaned against the doorframe. "Fear motivates and it'll motivate you from gettin' caught."

"Oh, it'll help me from being caught alright." She replied. "You might as well go to bed and sleep. I'm not in mood for anything else tonight."

"You know I can put you in whatever mood I want you in."

She flushed with anger. "So you intended to scare me back in there?" She stepped out of the shower and didn't bother grabbing a towel. She stood naked, water running down her body dripping onto the floor, and angry. "You know, I was having a pleasant time just laying beside you and talking. I was trying to reminisce with you and you had to bring up how women are rapped in Slams!"

"What? You forget you got a 50 million bounty pinned on your ass?" Riddick asked.

"I would like to!"

"That's what's gonna get your ass caught." Riddick stepped closer to her. "I've always had mercs on my neck and I always will and so will you."

She felt her bottom lip tremble. _No, she will not cry. Not in front of him or for him. _

"Your little fairy tale…." Riddick stepped even closer to her. "of having kids with a man you love ain't gonna happen. It never will. Unless the Slam you end up in doesn't sterilize you before you go in, then maybe you can have the gang who gets you kids in the Slam, of course, they'll be put into Child Services as soon as they're born. Doubt they'll even let you hold or name 'em."

"Get away from me, Riddick." She snapped. "Just get out of here!

She grabbed a jar of lotion or facial cream; she didn't know which and threw it at him. He swung his body to the side and it hit the wall behind him. It burst open and it's contents stained the wall. She reached for something else, but his hand wrapped around her wrist in a vice like grip.

She screamed as he yanked her away from the counter. An arm snaked around her waist as she struggled against him. She saw the light switch and flung her hand out and switched it on. He growled with pain as the lights flared into his sensitive eyes.

She was released and before she could make it out the bathroom, she was caught by the hair and drawn backwards. A thick arm went around her throat and she felt her air flow being restricted. She clawed at his arm and her nails forming red welts on his skin. His arm squeezed around her neck and she became dizzy from loss of air.

He took advantage of her dizziness and used it to propel her to the floor. Her neck was released and she started to gulp mouthfuls of air. Her arm was twisted behind her and a large hand pushed forward on her back making her lean forward. She supported herself on one hand to keep her chest from hitting the floor. She then notices the hard length of him prodding her back and she froze.

He leaned forward, his mouth near her ear. "All I have to do if push you forward onto your knees to have my way with you." He kissed her shoulder and murmured against her skin, "Are you afraid?"

She swallowed and choked.

He pushed her forward, forcing her to bend her arm against his strength. "I said are you afraid?"

"Yes, Riddick. I am scared. I am scared of being raped and hurt." She said. Her long hair hung over her shoulders and onto the floor. "Let me up, Riddick, I won't throw anything at you again."

"I don't know, Rakka. We've never done it doggy style." Riddick placed his other hand at the arm supporting her. If he pulled it away, she would fall forward onto her chest and her ass would be up for him to use as he saw fit. He wrapped his thick fingers around her forearm.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I apologize and I will not do it again."

"If we were in a Slam, sorry wouldn't be enough. I'd make you sorry."

"You said you've never broken a woman…"

"But I didn't say I couldn't do it."

"Riddick, let me up."

"Why?"

"You're not a rapist. You may be a killer, but you're not a rapist. The reason why you touched me the first time we had sex was because I gave you the go ahead. In the dorms you had chances after chances of taking advantage of me. No one could stop you then. Reki and my mother were too weak and there was nothing Sami could have done. You were even tempted a few times, but you didn't hurt me. At least, not physically."

Riddick nipped her shoulder and released her. He stood and walked around her. She stood and massaged her sore arms. She watched him turn on the shower, twisting only the cold water facet.

She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself and went to bed.


	22. Storm

Riddick was gone when she woke up that morning. Which was for the best, she didn't know how she could face him after what almost happened last night.

She wanted to shower, but she didn't want to go back into that bathroom. Had she been asking for it? She started it, she threw things at him…..

_But he had you right there and he didn't go through with it. _

She sat on the bed, the same bed where Riddick had taken her several times. She was so confused and depressed. Riddick had such a hold over her, yet she was feared him. Last night was wonderful until that. . . event.

There was a steady knock at the door. "Blessed Rakka, may I enter?"

It was Noa's voice. "Yes."

Noa entered, her robes whistling about her body. "Riddick is not here?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"That's alright, I came to see you." Noa tilted her head. "You look upset? Did Riddick…."

"It's nothing." Rakka replied quickly. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Oh, I see." Noa walked across the room and sat down behind Rakka. Her cool hands pulled Rakka's hair back from her face. "Such beautiful hair….not an old lady's gray like mine."

"No, your hair is beautiful." Rakka turned to Noa. "I know it looks unusual, but it's very beautiful and it doesn't make you look old at all."

Noa smiled and kissed Rakka on the cheek. "You are so sweet. I came to offer you a massage later today."

"A massage?"

"You never had one?"

"Well, last time I wasn't in the mood for it." She thought back to the whorehouse where women were preparing her for Helmer.

"You look as if you need one." Noa stroked Rakka's cheek with the back of her hand. "I'll come and get you when it's time."

Noa stood from the bed and stroked Rakka's hair affectionately before leaving. As she shut the door behind her, she licked her lips tasting Rakka. She even rubbed the back of her hand against her own cheek. Today was the day she would claim Rakka as her own.

* * *

"There you are!"

Riddick, who was in the courtyard of the compound, stopped and turned to see Io jogging to catch up to him. He waited for her to join him at his side. She caught her breath and said, "Grandmother Silla wants to meet with you."

"Oh." He tilted his head.

"Yes. She would have met with you earlier, but she's been ill."

"Wouldn't she rather meet with Rakka?"

"Oh, she will later. Grandmother lives in the old ways. Where the elder met the man then met the wife second."

"We ain't married."

Io shrugged. "We tried telling her that, but…she's old and very unaccustomed to the new ways of this day and age. When we received word that Planet Hitomi was destroyed, she hasn't been the same since, so I was told by my parents."

She looked at him and he looked down at her. "You'll come with me, will you?" Her hands were on his arm, feeling the strength under his skin.

He kissed her; simply cupped the back of her head and tilted her head back. She let him; placing her hands on his chest. It was quick and there was no tongue, more like a peck on the lips. Riddick lifted his head and licked his lips tasting Io. "Yeah."

Io looked puzzled, her hands on his chest feeling the muscle beneath. "Rakka…."

"I'm sick of hearin' her bitch."

Io took his arm and guided him toward the main mansion. "Will you meet with me privately?"

"Now?"

"Yes…."

"Where?"

* * *

Rakka followed Noa toward the special building where only women were allowed. She heard hear running from within.

"I made it where no one will come in and interrupt us." Noa said softly. "So you need not worry about letting yourself free."

"I'm just getting a massage." Rakka replied. She paused and something caught her eye. Riddick and Io were together. He had his hand cupping the back of her head and her hands on his chest. His lips briefly touched hers. Rakka swallowed a rising sob and blinked back tears.

Part of her grieved and the other part felt relieved. They were speaking with each and then Riddick looked up and saw her. She looked back at him. Riddick curled an arm around Io's shoulders and let her lead him off to another building.

Rakka heard a whine and realized she was whimpering.

* * *

Noa looked at the shuddering form of the girl sobbing quietly. She was naked on the cushions crying softly. Noa had coaxed her out of her clothes and urged her to rest upon the cushions. Noa, still fully dressed in her attire knelt beside Rakka and placed her arms around her.

"Shhhh, don't cry….don't cry….it's alright, it's alright."

"How? How? How can he do this to me? I….I shouldn't care, but…..I should know better than to ever get involved with him! After all he did _sell _me to pimps!" Rakka choked on a sob. "How could he kiss her out there in _public!_People are going….to know! He doesn't care! He doesn't care what people will think about me as long as he gets his fucks! And _she's married!"_

"Erroll isn't a compelling husband." Noa said stroking Rakka's back. "Io gets bored and….Riddick was there."

"I could just _die!"_

* * *

A hover glided across the fields toward the compound. There were four occupants inside it. It parked outside the compound and they got out. They wore cloaks and hoods made of synthetic wool.

The guard recognized them and allowed them inside as was requested of him by Erroll Liika. If he had searched them, he would have found the various weaponry they held on their person.

Erroll Liika went out and met them before they enter the outer yards. He exchanged a few word with the leader and directed them toward a round building where water trickled from within and was visited by only women.

Io undid her robe after the door shut behind them. She had taken him to a small storage shed near the mansion. Various tools hung from the walls and it was dirty. Several bags of collected mulberry leaves were gathered into a pile along the edge of the building.

"I may not have the body that Rakka has." Io murmured softly. Which was true, she weighed possibly 20 pounds more than Rakka and she had still had stretch marks on her belly from her pregnancy from Sunna. That didn't bother Riddick; the only thing he would miss was Rakka's scent. Io turned to him and touched his chest. "But I know that I can match Rakka's passion for you…."

"Sure, but can you match her in being a bitch by snooping through our stuff?"

She was taken about, but she quickly recovered. "I'm sorry…?"

"I could smell you in there. You found the pills."

"I don't know what you're…."

He grabbed her wrist and squeezed it making her wince. "Listen, bitch, if you're gonna go through people's stuff, ya gotta remember, you got to put the shit back where to found it or else someone knows you was there."

"Let go!"

"Who did you tell? Noa?"

"Stop it!"

"You tell your husband? How about that Noa bitch?"

Io sucked in air to scream, but a thick hand covered her mouth and he dragged her over to the work table. She batted at his back and he forced her against he table knocking various tools off the counter. He flattened her hand on the table and grabbed a machete from the wall.

"I'LL TELL YOU! I'LL TELL YOU WHATEVER YOU WANT!" Io screamed.

"Exactly." Riddick said, but he didn't put down the machete.

* * *

"Come, let me bathe you." Noa whispered. She coaxed Rakka to stand with her.

There was a pool carved into a marble floor and a small water fall trickled from the corner and flowed over small rocks. Cushions lined the floor around the pool and various containers of oils, soaps, shampoos, and conditioners also lined the walls on shelves.

Noa guided Rakka to step into the water. Rakka was surprised at how warm it was and she readily sank down into its warmth. Noa undressed and settled her robes inside a compartment for clothes along the wall.

"Let me get you something that'll help you to relax." Noa said as she made her way to a cooling unit. She took out a glass from a cabinet and removed a jug of wine from the cooler. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Rakka wasn't looking and she opened a small drawer. She fiddled around with it contents until her hand found a small envelope. She ripped it open and dumped its powdery contents into the wineglass. She poured the wine into the glass dissolving the drug.

Noa was all smiles as she headed back to the pool and slipped into the water with Rakka and handed her the glass. Rakka had washed her face in the water while Noa was drugging her drink and her face and hair was wet. She accepted the glass and sipped it.

Rakka felt sooth as soon as she swallowed the wine. She glanced at Noa's nude body and quickly glanced away. She was surprised that Riddick hadn't tried approaching Noa before Io.

"Noa, thank you." Rakka said. "I know….I know that you've had your eyes on Riddick….."  
"I'm sorry?"  
"I've seen you two look at each other. I knew Riddick was never going to be satisfy with me as long as there were other women far more….appealing than me. I know that I'm upset. More upset than I thought I would be, but I never thought he would kiss Io out in public like that!"

Rakka fought away the vision of Riddick's full lips on Io's mouth. The pain leapt up with it and Rakka felt like throwing up. "I'm not upset that he was kissing another woman, I am not! I am just upset that he did it public where everyone can see!"

"There…..shhh….stop….." Noa said stroking Rakka's arm. She pulled Rakka close.

"Noa, I'm thanking you for not….approaching him…..you know….I don't mind now, I guess…..You can…"

"It's not Riddick I've had my eye on." Noa whispered. "I wanted you."

Rakka looked up. "I…..sorry….I….I'm tired…."

"Shhhh…go to sleep. I'll hold you."

Rakka tried keeping her eyes closed. She felt a pair of soft lips kiss her cheek. Arms slid around her body and she was pressed close to another body…a body that wasn't like Riddick's at all.

Noa pulled Rakka out of the water, her eyes gazing at Rakka's body. She reclined Rakka's sleeping form on the cushions and ran a hand up her flat belly. Her hand glided up the curve of Rakka's breast where her nipple was rubbed by her finger tips.

Noa bent her head and kissed Rakka's lips, her tongue darting in to stroke Rakka's. It was sweet, but it would have been sweeter it Rakka's tongue could respond. Her other hand dripped between Rakka's thighs and her fingers stroked Rakka's outer folds. A dull whimper emitted from Rakka's throat as she was forcefully aroused.

Noa removed her fingers and licked them. "Rakka, my dear heart, you have no idea how long I've waited for this." She moved to lie atop of Rakka and she kissed Rakka's face while stroking her breasts.

The door was kicked open and Toombs came in followed by three men bearing rifles.

"Alright! Do what we want and no….hey….whoa!" Toombs took in the scene of two nude women together on the cushions in a very erotic embrace. Noa stared at the men in sick horror as Toombs took a deep drag on his cigarette and said, "God, I love Hitomian women."

* * *

Riddick left Io tied up in the shed. He went to the Family Mansion and went upstairs toward the third floor, where Family Head Silla Liika's room was. The Mansion was empty and Rakka wasn't in their room. He would check on her later after he gotten things straightened out with Silla.

The bedroom was at the end of the hall and Riddick stalked to the door and opened it. It was dark inside, but he didn't mind. He lifted his goggles to forehead and saw the old woman sitting in a rocking chair. She was cradling a teddy bear in her arms and she was singing to it softly as if she was comforting a crying child. She wore ancient looking robe which was plain with no elaborate designs that Hitomian fashion seems to favor. Her long snowy white hair was tangled and hung down about her face. It draped about the worn teddy bears face and round ears. It's button eyes shone in what little light there was in the room.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Hush little baby don't say a word. Hush little baby, don't say a word." She chanted over and over. She rocked in the chair and her hand lightly patting the bear's back.

Riddick turned his head to see Erroll Liika standing in the far corner with a stun gun aimed at him. "You care to tell me how long the lady there been sick?"

Erroll walked from the corner and said, "Almost 20 years. Imagine my shock when I saw the great head of the Liika Family not able to remember all the words in an age old lullaby. That first verse is all she can remember."

"Hush little baby, don't say a word."

"So Noa, she's behind all this shit. Not Silla."

"Hush little baby, don't say a word."

"Actually, Noa's mother started it. When Silla started to get sick and began to forget names and places, her daughter asked her to step down and give her the position of family head. But Sillia refused to name Noa's mother, Cartha, as the Family Head. We don't know whether it was because Silla was so damn selfish or power hungry or maybe it was the sickness, but she absolutely refused to turn her position over to her daughter. Silla was well loved within the Liika family and not many believed that their beloved Head Mother was getting sick in the head, so no one would backup Cartha if she forced Silla from the position. So Cartha had her put in this room and began giving orders saying that they came from Silla's own lips."

"Hush little baby, don't say a word."

"And when Cartha died, Noa stepped into her place." Riddick finished.

"Exactly."

"No wonder this place is so fucked up." Riddick commented. "The hierarchy here ain't any better than a fuckin' Slam."

"Think of it as you will. But you better get use to it, you're here until my daughter is of age to have your baby."

Riddick raised an eyebrow, and his silver eyes darkened. "You're talking about Sunna."

"Exactly." Erroll said and aimed the gun at Riddick's chest.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word."

"Where's Rakka?"

"Don't worry about her. I'm sure that Mr. Toombs will take wonderful care of her or he'll find someone else who will. I'm sure whoever will have her will take care of her in order preserve her lithe Hitomian body."

Riddick swiveled his body to face Erroll Liika. Erroll noticed that Riddick was a large man and he could feel the heat of a fury drifting at him. It didn't matter; he was the one with the stun gun.

* * *

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Noa screamed, her body hovering over Rakka's.

"Sorry, sweets, no can do." Toombs replied. "You have two minutes to throw something on and put something on her. You're comin' with us dressed, or preferably, naked."  
Noa lunged at him, her nails ready to claw his eyes out of their sockets. How dare this disgusting _man _interrupt her time with Rakka! How dare he! How dare he!

Toombs punched her close fisted across the cheek. She collapsed onto the floor, her lip bleeding. She stared shocked at the floor and touched her face. Never she had been so brutally treated. Never had she seen her own blood due to the purposeful action of others. She was Family Head, no one should be able to treat her such as this. She let out a screech that could shatter glass.

"Goddamn slut is crazy!" Toombs said while planting a boot in her side. "Shut up! Leonard, cuff this bitch and throw something on her. I'm gonna get Rakka."

"I don't think you're going to touch her." A female voice spoke.

Toombs froze and turned to see who he had thought was Benny removing her hood. Lilia glared at him with emerald green eyes and a gun pointed at his head.

* * *

All was quiet at the mansion. A large glass window allowed Silla, when she was in mind to do so, to look out the window and see the west side of the compound. This window was shattered as a screaming man was hurled through it. Erroll Liika suffered and died when he hit the ground. His face was bruised and bloodied as if a rock was slammed into his face and he had many fractured ribs prior to being thrown out the window.

People started running and crowding around the body. People shouted for medics and others asked questions as to what could have happened, but they all went silent when they heard the singing from up above.

"Hush little, baby, don't say a word. Hush little, baby, don't say a word. Mommy's going to buy you a Mockingbird and if that Mockingbird won't sing…."

* * *

"Lilia, baby, you really don't wanna point that at me." Toombs said smoothly.

"Be quiet and put your gun on the floor."

"Alright." He knelt beside Rakka and placed his gun squarely on the floor.

Noa was still screeching and Leonard and Robb had their guns aimed at Lilia. Lilia glared at him and said, "Put your guns on the floor too."

Toombs watched her. She held the rifle out away from her body as if she was afraid for it to touch her and her hands shook slightly. She was inexperience and was very scared. She was a whore, not a shooter or a killer. All was in his favor, if he played his cards right.

"Girlie, put the gun down and stop playing little miss cop." He reached toward a nearby rack where several silken sheets hung. He held it up and said, "What the hell is with you women and silk?"

"Toombs, I am not joking! I am serious!" She aimed the gun at him. She kept swinging her head from him to Leonard and Robb. Just like an amateur.

"Sure you are, lady, and we're serious about gettin' our cut." Toombs replied. He wrapped the silk around Rakka's torso. "Goddammit! When the fuck is that bitch gonna pass out!"

Noa was still screeching in her pitiful wail, her lip still bleeding. Lilia whirled her attention to Noa swinging her gun to aim at the hysterical woman. Toombs made his move. He snatched up a glass container of beads from the compartment near the pool and threw it. It collided with Lilia's shoulder making her yelp and drop her gun to clutch her shoulder. Yep, she was definitely an amateur when it came to a gun fight.

Leonard was quick and aimed his gun at her head. "Bitch, you move and I will fuckin' cut you down! Where the hell is Benny?"

"Dead." Lilia replied.

Toombs gathered up his gun and slung's Rakka's prone body over his shoulder. Her loose arms and hair hung down his back. "Tell gramps that I'll be takin' Riddick and the lady."

"You can't!" Lilia yelped. "They are needed for…."

"Shut up!" Leonard snapped. "Watta we do with her? We can't take her with us. Not with just the three of us! We can't cover three hostages and get Riddick! It just can't be done!"

"Leave her. We got what we came for." Toombs secured Rakka on his shoulder by cross his free arm across her legs which hung down his chest and grasped the back of her thigh. He held his gun in his other hand and approached Lilia. "Robb, get that gray bitch!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Noa screamed at the top of her lungs. "YOU CAN'T TAKE HER FROM ME! I NEED HER! I HATE YOU ALL! I HATE YOU!"

"The feeling is about to become mutual." Leonard muttered.

Toombs stood near Lilia's crouching form. He had to shift his shoulders to keep from slipping off. He held the gun to her forehead and she stared up at with him terrified eyes. "Lilia, sweetheart, you gave great blowjobs."

He pulled the trigger. Blood and thicker substances splattered the wall and floor.

* * *

Outside the Liika Family compound several hovers pulled up. The doors burst open and men in armored uniforms spilled out. They held guns and batons in gloved hands. They charged the gate of the compound. The guards rushed out to stop them, but they were quickly overwhelmed and killed. The Kunas family soldiers spilled into he compound shooting and demanding to see the Furyan and the Hitomian princess.

"Shit, they're here already. Let's move!" Toombs snapped stepping over the body of Lilia Kunas.

Robb was having a hard time struggling with Noa who screeched and scratched at him like a wild cat. Toombs rolled his eyes and walked over and slammed the butt of his gun against Noa's temple. She collapsed unconscious in a heap.

"Grab her and let's go." Toombs snapped.

Robb tossed Noa's unconscious body over his shoulder. They didn't bother getting a sheet to cover her body.

* * *

A dark figure knelt atop the corner of the roof on the steeple of the Family Mansion. It was starting to grow dark and he lifted his goggles to his brow and viewed the chaos below. Soldiers broke doors and smashed windows. Herding families outside of their homes and hunting for Rakka and him.

He looked ahead toward the Water House and saw Toombs with Rakka over his shoulder and two others with an unconscious Noa heading toward the back gate. He dropped to the lower level of the roof and glided down the pipe along the side of the house. He crouched low to the ground and eased himself into the shadows . . . which were his element.

Toombs jogged across the field the best he could with an unconscious woman over his shoulder and gun in hand. Robb was making a miserable job of lagging behind. If he wasn't carrying such a valuable prize, Toombs would have left him behind.

"Move your ass!" Toombs yelled.

Robb stumbled and fell, dropping Noa into a heap onto the grass.

"Fuckin' hell!" Toombs snarled as he stopped. He glared hate at Robb as his legs began to ache from the hard run and an abrupt stop. "Get her up and c'mon. I wanna be off planet before they come lookin' for us."

A roar of a hover resounded from nearby and Toombs looked up to see a hover appear in the horizon. He trained his gun on it as it pulled up and stopped. A very fat man wearing a priest like robe and a cigar hanging from his thick lips leaned out the window pointing a gun at them.

"Put the skank and back away!"

Toombs watched him. Unlike Lilia, this man knew how to handle a gun. Toombs pressed the barrel of his gun to Rakka's knee. "You put your gun away and get out of the hover, preacher, or this "skank" is gonna loose a leg."

"A one legged skank can still give birth." The priest shrugged. "But won't get you much on the black market."

"Yeah, how about I shoot the slut in the cunt?" Toombs snapped. He slid the barrel up her thigh and it disappeared under the silk sheet. "It won't matter to some; she'll still have a pretty mouth and a tight ass."

"Naw, you don't want to do that. At the angle of her pelvis and cunt and according to the law of physics and the diameter of the bullet and the fire power of the gun, the small bit of lead will pass through her cunt up and ricochet off her pelvic bone and pass through her flesh and into your shoulder."

Toombs stared at him.

"Ma wanted a doctor in the family, but I became a bartender…..then later a priest." The fat man shrugged. "It ain't bad. I still get ta fuck and get drunk!"

"Robb, shoot the Noa bitch in the leg." Toombs said.

Robb dutifully aimed his gun at Noa's right leg who was still out cold on the grass.

"Go ahead. Shoot the skank in the head." The Head Priest said. "I've been tired of hearing her bitch. Hold 'er up and I'll take the shot!"

Robb pulled the trigger and Noa awoke screaming. Her upper body lunged up, throwing off the sheet that had been wrapped around her torso. Her ethereal features were twisted and distorted in an ugly face of pain.

"Again! Shoot 'er again!" The Head Priest shouted with mad glee.

"Jeezus, you're sick!" Toombs yelled. He holstered his gun and reached inside his vest pocket. He removed a small control and pressed the button. He wanted to wait until they were further away from the compound before he had to do this, but thanks to this fat fuck, there was no time.

"Put the skank down and walk away!" The Head Priest snarled.

"Robb, shoot the Noa bitch in the other leg."

* * *

Riddick heard the second shot and the following screech of pain. He scented the blood and knew it was not Rakka's. He crouched low among the tall grass and moved soundlessly. As he resembled a lion with the children in Rakka's eyes, he now would have resembled a hunting lion. As he neared the source of the screeches, he could make out the figures and the hover. The Head Priest was encouraging them to torture Noa. Possibly to buy time, but the thing was that Toombs was using that time.

Riddick knew without a doubt that Toombs had a controller for his skiff. Hell, what merc didn't?

He waited. He waited while Robb shot Noa in both shoulders at Toombs' command. He listened to the antics of the Head Priest giving Toombs a lesson on how a skank was still useful without arms or legs.

Then….the skiff purred over the plains stirring the dust and the grass. The Head Priest cursed and flung himself to the floorboard. Toombs flicked a switch and the gun turrets on the sides of the skiff fired, peppering the hover with bullets.

The Head Priest managed to get his bulk out of the hover before it went up in flames. Riddick made his move. He leapt from his hiding spot. Blood spurted and Robb's head rolled on the grass.

"Fuck!" Leonard screamed and fired a shot. It missed and Riddick lunged forward, curved shiv in hand. Leonard backed away toward the skiff, pretty smart for a merc.

Toombs was at the opened skiff, staniding on the entrance ramp, with Rakka still over his shoulder. "Leonard, keep 'im offa my ass!"

"Fuck you, Toombs!" Leonard screamed.

"Hold it right there, fuckwad!" The Head Priest yelled a gun at Toombs retreating back. He fired a shot and it hit the side of the ramp near Toombs' boots. Toombs fired a few rounds and the Head Priest yelped clutching a bleeding arm and slumped to the grass. Toombs slung himself and Rakka inside.

Leonard managed to fire off a few rounds near Riddick's boots to force him to back off. He whirled around to run to the skiff. Riddick followed. The gun turrets fired forcing Riddick to spin away, but not before he slashed opened Leonard's shoulder blade.

The skiff lifted off and Leonard managed to leap onto the ramp and pulled himself inside as it shut. Toombs' voice echoed over a loud speaker. "Riddick, you want 'er, come get 'er!"

The skiff lifted upward and then shot off. Riddick and the Head Priest watched the skiff disappear into the darkening sky along with Rakka


	23. Skiff

"Fuck." The Head Priest cursed. "Fuck fuck fuck."

Riddick stared at the fading dot of the skiff on the horizon.

"Jeez! Lissen, I tried getting through to you over the coms, but the motherfuckers kept tellin' me you weren't available. Got suspicious and made my way here. Saw the cocksuckers with her. I tried to buy you time, knew you was comin' for 'er."

Riddick wiped the blood off his blade on the shirt of Robb's headless body. The priest continued to hold his bleeding arm. It was just a graze, but it was bleeding a lot. Blood ran down his silken sleeve and dripped off his fingers.

"Lissen, I gotta tell ya, I managed to get my hands on a ship sooner than I thought. I threw a few names and threats around. Even did a little blackmailing and managed to get a small shuttle, but dammit, you're gonna need somethin' stronger to go afte r them…."

Riddick slipped the blade back into the sheath on his back and stood straight.

"You are gonna go after them?" The Head Priest looked at him.

Riddick turned and headed in the general direction of the temple. The priest winced as he clutched his arm to his side and followed the big man.

"Lissen to me. I know you ain't wild about the whole prophecy thing with the holy kid. But I gotta tell ya, if the Seer sez there's gonna be a kid between you two, I believe her. She's NEVER been wrong about shit. You can let that fucker keep her, rape her, slave her out, while you go off to god knows where and forget about her, but, you let me tell ya, you two WILL find each other again and you two WILL get it on and there WILL be a kid, you mark my words. You can't run from fate or destiny. Sure you can bend it a little even screw with it by running, but it happens before you know it."

"He ain't gonna slave her out, she's going straight to a slam." Riddick replied without looking at him.

"Dammit, you don't know!" The Head Pries hissed. "That's why I was trying to call you! The 50 million bounty on Rakka is off!"

Riddick twisted his head and looked at him. His full lips were set and his black goggles hid any possible surprise or emotion.

"That's right. The Caretaker had a stroke and he was removed from office. They found the cover up about Rakka's attempted rape, so they called the bounty off. As of right now, Rakka is no longer a fugitive; to the law she's a missing civilian. She's only wanted for questioning to confirm several facts. Dammit, they're not even going to convict her for anything."

"Really." Riddick stated casually. "I guess that's more reason for me to go after her, then? Save her so's she can settle down in some house with another man and have kids."

"She's gonna have your kid one day."

"Shut up!" Though his tone was harsh and was full of violence, Riddick didn't move nor raise a weapon, but the priest froze as if he did.

The priest swallowed before saying, "Look, come with me to the Temple. Chural Kunas can't touch you there, not without the entire Hitomian race coming down on his head for attacking a sacred place. The Seer's gonna wanna speak with ya."

* * *

Chural Kunas snarled as he threw the com across his lavished office. Damn them all to hell! That traitor Toombs made off with Blessed Rakka Laotaner and Riddick was under the protection of the Temple. All was within his grasp and due to incompetence he lost it all! His birthright!

He even lost his daughter, Lilia. Found her dead in the Water House, her brains splattered across the wall. He had lost an important asset to his campaign. She had more than once swayed men to his way of thinking, that is before he stripped them of their possession and companies.

And to think that she had tried to garner more love from him by sending herself on a suicide mission to try to bring Rakka Laotaner to him herself? Stupid filthy slut.

He wheeled his electronic chair toward the cabinet where he kept his brandy. He poured himself a small glass. He swallowed a gulp and allowed the liquid to sooth his rage.

All was not a lost. Silla was drooling idiot, easy prey, and Noa….she was no longer a match for him. They found her naked in the plains, it looks like the wounds she sustained are bad enough that she'll be crippled for the rest of her life. And his men already surrounded the Liika Family Compound, all he had to do was move in and take over. He expected resistance, but he always knew how to handle resistance against him.

A foot step resounded from behind him. He turned his chair around to confront the person in his office. It was a man wearing a white cowboy hat and long white trench coat. He had mismatched eyes; one was blue while the other was pink. The man gave him a glowing smile and aimed an ancient .22 Caliber pistol at his heart.

"Howdy, my name is 22 and I'm a special kind of Gardener."

* * *

"Dammit, Toombs, I don't like this!" Leonard hissed from the seat beside the pilot's.

Toombs glared at him while he adjusted the flight controls. "It's gonna be fine. Trust me"

"That fucker lopped off Robb's head before he knew it!"

"Well, yeah, that's Riddick for ya."

"I knew the fucker was touch, but jeezus!" Leonard clutched at the adhesive suture on his bare back. "The fucker almost killed me!"

"He was going for what he calls the "sweet spot." Toombs explained.

Rakka groaned and lifted her head. She felt groggy and wondered where Noa was. Why was it so cold and dark and where was the pool?

"Mornin' princess."

She looked up to see Toombs half turned in his seat smiling at her. She took in her surroundings and moaned with shock when she realized she was on a ship. The reason why she was so cold was because all she had to wear was a silk sheet.

"Wh…where's Noa?" Rakka whispered as she hugged the cool sheet around her body as she sat up.

"Probably dead." Toombs replied.

She shut her eyes when she saw through the front window of the ship. She was in space and she hated that feeling of openness and feeling lost in the nothingness of space. Rakka swallowed; feeling the knife of terror and dread cutting at her. She forced her eyes to open and face her captors. "Whe…where are you taking me?"

"Slam." Toombs replied automatically.

"Toombs, you know no slam is gonna pay for her! The bounty's off!"

"Shut up!" Toombs snapped glaring daggers at him last surviving crew member.  
"What?" Rakka looked up. "My bounty is off? There's no bounty on me anymore?"

"We are kidnapping a civilian! People get sent to slams for that last I time I checked."

"We ain't goin' to a Slam, we're just gonna hold onto her a few days."

"Answer me! Is my bounty off!" She felt like tearing her hair to get answers.

"Yeah! Dammit! It's been off for the last two days!" Leonard yelled at her and turning his attention back to Toombs.

Rakka felt so much weight being lifted off her body that she felt that she might float to the ceiling. Possibilities of her future came back to her and thrilled her. She could go back to school, she could go home in the City (if it was still there that is), and she could get her old job back! No more running and hiding with Riddick, she no longer needed Riddick……for some reason, this sadden her and almost dampen her joy….almost. No more dreading, no more looking over her shoulder, or being sick when she listened to the news. There would be no more nightmares of slams. She was free, she was free from it all. Then she was brought back to realty when she heard the conversation ahead of between two angry men.

"Toombs, dammit! We can't do this! You didn't tell me what Riddick was capable of! He's a fucking monster!"

"Why the hell do you think he's got such a big bounty on his head?" Toombs replied. "What? You think he robbed a few banks and planted a few bullets in a couple of clerks? Goddammit, I cut my teeth on punks like that. Riddick is different. He's the real fucking deal. A real fucking killer."

"He ain't worth it!"

"You gettin' scared on me?" Toombs said coolly. "Yer wantin' to cut out on me?"

"Yeah, Toombs, I guess I am." Leonard replied.

Rakka felt the threat of violence beat against her. She scooted toward the back of the skiff hugging the sheet around herself. She wedged herself into a tight corner hoping that she was safe from whatever will happened.

She saw Leonard swallow. He held up his hands as if offering a peace treaty and said, "Toombs, think about it. The Hitomians ain't gonna let us cut out with her. You know what she is to them. It would be like snatchin' the governor from Helion Prime council."

Riddick didn't consider herself that important, but then again…the cult on Echo actually believed her to be the Holy Mother of some savior.

"They ain't gonna do shit. They're too fuckin' busy screwing each other over. We'll be long gone before they ever put out a pursuit. If granddaddy Chural Kunas tries some shit, then I got enough stuff on him to put him in a Slam for a long time."

"What about Riddick?"

"When Riddick shows up for the broad we're gonna nail his ass."

"If he doesn't nail ours!" Leonard rubbed his temples with his fingers, trying to relax and concentrate. This wasn't what he signed up for at all. He heard tales about Riddick, but he figured it was big talk from drunk mercs and ex-cons that spent time in the same slam as Riddick. He figured that Riddick was just going to be some big and stupid man with a big gun like all the other bounties he collected with various crews over his five year period of being a merc. When Toombs asked him to join, to grab a 50 million bounty, then hell yeah, he joined.

It wasn't supposed to turn out like this. They were going to get the bounty, get the money, he was going to retire, settle down in a huge house, meet ladies, fuck it, maybe get married. And maybe have one or two kids, not this shit. Just not this shit.

"Lissen, Toombs, He started. "Here's what I wanna do. I want to drop her off somewhere. At either Haven or Vana, they're close by. Then you and me, we go toward the outer rim and wait until the whole thing blows over. Riddick won't be after us, Hitomians will have her, and we won't get in trouble with the law."

"That's sounds good." Toombs said casually as he set the ship on auto pilot. "But it ain't happenin'. Here's my plan." He removed a pack of cigarettes from his vest pocket. He took one and lit it with a lighter from the same pocket. "We keep the broad, Riddick comes for her, we get his ass, take him to Tangier Slam, get the bounty, then sell her ass out to Rygenkolls and let the Hitomians be their problem."

"There's only two of us!" Leonard nearly yelled.

"That's why I'm heading toward Lupis 5 to get a new crew."

Leonard tensed and stared at Toombs. Toombs stared back at him. Rakka stared at them both. Leonard reached for his gun, but Toombs, more experienced and already prepared, fired off the shot first. Leonard's body flung back before it fell onto the floor as Rakka screamed. Leonard choked and blood left his lips before his eyes deaden as the life left his body.

Toombs took a long drag on his cigarette, his eyes on the man he just killed. He holstered his smoking gun and stood. Rakka choked on a sob and watched him drag Leonard's body toward a compartment toward the right. He stuffed it inside with his foot and slammed the compartment shut. He would later jettison it into space later when he had the time.

He turned to her and grinned. "Look's like it's just me and you, sweetheart."

"What…are you going to do?" She said as she swallowed back the sob that threatened to come. "Riddick…he's not coming."

"Oh, he'll come."

"No…he…"

Toombs walked toward the back of the skiff where there were several lockers. "He's gonna come. I took somethin' from him and he's got to come to me to get it back."

"I don't understand." Rakka said. Why would Riddick endanger himself to come after her? They hated each other and the only reason why the slept together was pure lust. He could have Io or any Hitomian woman who would have him now.

Toombs snapped open a locker and withdrew shirt and pants. He tossed them to her and they landed at her feet. "Get dressed. As much as I'd like to have you walk around in your birthday suit, but it'd be too much a distraction for me and I'm gonna need a clear head to handle the shit on Lupis 5."

Rakka unfolded the clothes. They were too big for her, but they were better than anything.

"Whattaya waiting for? For me to open up a bathroom door for ya? Sorry, sweetheart, ain't no privacy on a merc ship." Toombs sat down in the pilot's seat facing her. He had a bottle of whiskey and a smoke between his lips.

Rakka forced herself to stand with the sheet around her torso. She kept it tuck up in her armpits and bent over to step into the pants with her back to Toombs. She pulled the pants up her legs beneath the cover of the sheet. The pants were too big for her, they hung off her hips and she could easily push them off like one would panties. She let the sheet drop, not caring if Toombs could see her bare back. With one arm across her breasts to prevent a peek from Toombs, she bent over and grabbed the shirt and pulled it on. It hung off one shoulder, but it fit better than Riddick's shirt did.

"What about shoes?" She asked.

"Worry about that later. We goin' into cryo til we get to Lupis 5."

She felt her blood chill. Cryo? She never had been into cryo before. She heard it shuts down part of your brain. What if it didn't awaken when you woke up? Would she be mindless? What if something happened to the ship while you were cryo? What if something happens to you in cryo and no one can help you?

Toombs must have noticed her discomfort. "What? Ya afraid of cryo?"

"I've never been in cryo before." She admitted.

"You'll be fine." Toombs polished off the last of the whiskey and set the bottle aside. He smacked his lips and balanced his cigarette on the arm of the pilot seat. "Been doin' it for years and nothin' went wrong." He stood with a sigh. "Jeezus, I'm tired. Let's go."

He walked toward her. She shied away as he passed her and went to a cylindrical tube. He pressed a few buttons on the side and the lid opened with a hiss. Inside she could see padding for comfort and tubes. He looked at her and motioned toward the cryo unit with a shrug. "Hop in."

She backed away afraid. "No….just…drop me off on Haven. I won't say anything. I just want to go home."

"Yeah, and I want you in this cryo….now." He said the last word venomously.

She stepped back. Leonard's gun was by the pilot's seat. She whirled around and lunged for it. She could feel Toombs following her, right on her heels. She snatched the gun and fumbled with it.

A blow to the back of her head made her collide against the pilot's chair, but she kept her grip on the gun. Toombs grabbed her wrist and she pulled the trigger in panic. The ring of the gun within the small skiff echoed loudly and the sound rang in her ears making them throbbed. The robotic voice over the console began to complain about damage to the ship's hull and errors. Toombs cursed as a blow was slammed against her face. She curled on the floor, against the pilot's chair, clutching her sore face and head.

"YOU GODDAMN BITCH!" He roared at her, his fingers digging into her arms, yanking her up to face him and his rage. "YOU ALMOST GOT US KILLED!"

He flung her away and began to tapping at the controls. He screamed obscenities until the error codes faded from the monitors and the voice quieted. He whirled in his chair and glared murder at Rakka. "Alright, slut, you really fucked up my plans. Looks like we gotta make a pit stop to repair the hull or else we're gonna be sucking empty space in 5 hours."

Rakka swallowed and backed away on the floor. Why didn't she just quietly get into the cryo unit?

Toombs knelt and grabbed a fistful of her shirt and yanked her closer to him. His breath reeked of cigarettes and alcohol and his blue eyes were filled with anger and lust. "We'll be on Vana in 3 hours. Three hours with nothing to do. But guess what, you're gonna entertain me till we get there. I WAS going to be a gentleman, and leave ya alone. Not mess with ya, but you really, really pissed me off bad, real bad."

"No, no, please." Rakka whimpered, tears at her eyes. "Please, leave me alone."

"You didn't complain in the bar, honey." Toombs replied. He slipped a hand into the neck of her shirt to touch her bare shoulder. She recoiled as if his hand was a snake. He yanked her back to him and she heard the rip of the shirt as the stitching came apart. "Lissen, sweety, you do what I want and you'll come out of it with no bruises and a smile, you keep pissin' me off and you're gonna be hurt."

_Hurt, but not killed._

Her hand slashed at his face and Toombs grunted. Three bleedings lines etched below his eye. He cuffed her across the face hitting the same spot he had hit earlier. Rakka's head rocked and her mind screamed for her to lie still and let him do what he wanted, but her instinct said other wise.

"Get off me!" She yelled. She reached up and grabbed a handful of his curly hair and yanked it. He yelped and backhanded her across the face, this time the other cheek. Again she fought the crying need to surrender. As long as he needed her alive…..

Her hands reached for the holster where his gun was concealed. Toombs predicted her move and caught her wrists in a death grip. She kicked with her bare foot at his crotch and caught him. He groaned and released her. She scrambled away her eyes darting for an escape or something to use as a weapon.

Toombs quickly recovered from the shock, but he was still in pain. "Bitch….what the fuck do ya think yer gonna do? You…can't pilot….you kill me and yer stuck out in space….yer gonna loose air and suffocate..."

She glared at him. He was right. He was damn right and she knew it and he knew it. "You leave me alone! I know you need me alive to get Riddick. You touch me again and I will fight you. I will fight you and you're either going to have to kill me or I'm going to kill you. Because the last time a man……_don't think of Riddick, don't think of what almost happened last night) _tried to hurt me that way….I impaled him on a pipe. I may not have a pipe, but I'm sure there are other ways of killing a man."

Toombs glared at her. She glared back at him, hoping that her terror wasn't showing on her face.

"Alright, bitch, have it your way." Toombs managed to stand and walk to the pilot's seat. He eased himself into the chair and swiveled himself toward the front.

Rakka watched him for several moments and felt relief flood her body. She felt so exhilarated from relief she almost fell. She swallowed the lump in her throat and sat down in the passenger seat as far from Toombs as possible.

"Lissen, bitch, you may be off the hook for now, but don't fuckin' think I'm gonna forget this shit. And don't think I ain't willin' to ghost your ass. I love money, but I love living too. So don't get any ideas about creepin' up on me in my sleep or some shit like that. I sleep with this loaded and the safety off." He motioned toward the gun in his holster.

* * *

Riddick reclined in the Head Priest's office chair, boots propped on the oak desk. He refused to see the Seer last night saying he wanted to sleep. He didn't sleep at all last night, he prowled.

"You're like a goddamn house cat." The Head Priest said as he entered the office and slammed the door behind him.

Riddick glanced at him, but said nothing.

"You go out all night, and then you come back in to eat and sleep all damn day." The Head Priest settled himself behind the desk. He gave Riddick's boots a disgruntled looked, but said nothing about them. "Don't hafta worry about Chural Kunas anymore. They found 'im dead last night with a bullet in his heart. There's investigation goin' into it, but I don't think they'll find anythin'. Whoever did it, did all the skanks on this island a favor. There ain't going to be anymore fightin' now."

Riddick kept his eyes on him and made no response as if he heard.

"Looks like Liika is gonna be the top head Family on this island from now on. It's all gonna go to Io. Noa ain't in any condition to be Family Head. Not just cuz of her injuries, but cuz she just ain't right in the head no more." The Head Priest opened a drawer and removed a small wooden case of cigars. He lit one and puffed on it a few times. "They're gonna put her in a hospital for nutcases. It's all for the best. She wasn't fit to lead this family the day her momma went and screwed over the Liika family and she kept up the trick. Anyways, Io is now the Liika Family Head."

Riddick tilted his head and said nothing.

"Now the Seer got her in her chamber givin' her a talkin' too right now. Ya know, settin' her straight and lettin' her know exactly what her job as Family Head is. Io agreed to come live at the Temple a while, do some learnin' from the Seer. Somethin' about the Way or Sight shit. Anyway, she's optimistic that the Liika Family is gonna have better days."

Riddick shifted his boots off the desk and sat up.

"Lissen, the Seer wanted me to take a message to ya. She's sez, don't judge the entire Hitomian race by what happened on this island. The Hitomian race is like any other human race. Ya got good people and ya got bad people. It jes so happened that a whole lot of bad people collected on dis island and they've been havin' problems long before you and Rakka got here."

Riddick leaned forward and said, "Why do you refer to it as she?"

"It?"

"The Seer. It ain't got a dick or a cunt. Why do refer to it as a girl?"

The Head Priest looked at him. He quietly opened another drawer and removed a small photo. He held it and peered at it with a face that Riddick hadn't seen him wore before. He slid it across the desk and Riddick accepted it and looked at it. On it was an image of a little girl, possibly 3 years old. She wore an oversize dress which no doubt was bought from a thrift shop and she had tangled dark hair. She had a glowing smile revealing tiny baby teeth and her eyes glowed brightly showing that she was having a good time doing whatever she was doing at the time the photo was taken.

"That's my kid." The Head Priest said softly. "Or should I say she _was_ my kid." He took a long drag on his cigar and said, "When I was a teenager, I was a stupid kid who thought I was an adult. I didn't know shit then. God, if I knew half the shit that I know now back then, hell, maybe I would have turned out a lot different."

He waited for a reply from Riddick, but none came. He took another puff on his cigar and continued, "I got this girl pregnant during high school. She didn't wanna abort and I thought I was in love with. We married and had the kid. Her name was Tara. I was still a kid myself and I didn't know how to take care of a kid. I fucked it all up. I gambled, lost money, drank away my wages, got into fights, and even slept with other women. Finally, the wife got sick of it and left. Took Tara and went out the door. That photo was taken a week before the wife walked out with her. Never had contact with them again. My life went into the dumps. I was in depth up to my eyeballs. While my life was going into the slumps, the wife found a man, a better man than me, and got married. The guy was decent enough to be a good dad to Tara and she turned out alright. She's grown now and she's married now and expecting a baby. Fuck, she probably don't know my name or remember me. I don't wanna screw with her life so I stay outta it."

The Head Priest stopped talking and took a deep breath. "Sorry for yakking yer ear off. I'm almost finished. Anyway, it was about two or three years ago when I came to this planet to get away from people I owed money. I got a job as a bartender and…I already told you this before, but I didn't tell ya the whole story. I was working at that bar we met at. It was just any ordinary night. You got teetotalers, yer hookers, cryin' people, crazy people, and mean people getting drink and bitching about their lives. The door opens and in flock this group of women wearin' these expensive robes. I think, oh shit, some rich people are lost or came to see how the other side lives or some shit like that. They come right up to the bar and one of 'em looks at me and sazs, 'Seer wants you as her Head Priest of the Temple'. That knocked me off my seat. I knew about the Hitomian Temple and heard some shit about the Seer, so I figger it's a prank or they were all crazy or drunk. I tell them to either shut up or buy a drink or get the hell out. They kept sayin' they were serious and that the Seer wanted me. And I kept cussin' them out and tellin' them to get the hell out. They went on and on and on about the Seer, so's I say, 'if the fuckin' Seer wants me as her Head Priest than she needs to get her ass out here and tell me herself face to face.' That got them to leave and I thought problem over, no big deal, jes watch myself and keep my gun loaded at my hip. The next night it started normal with the same crowd, then the door opened and them same women came in. I'm thinkin', Aw hell, where's my gun', then they parted and this girl came through. It was the Seer, but…ya gotta know, the Seer knows everything and I don't know how old she is, but…she ain't strong. She's weak and could break easily. Fuck, she's almost as helpless as a newborn kitten. She rarely goes anywhere and when she does, she needs lots of help. Yet, she walked into my bar on thin legs that couldn't hold up a scrawny cat, climbed onto a bar stool to look me in the eye and say, "I want you as my Head Priest." And I said, "How much is the pay?"

The Head Priest took a deep sigh. "Fuck, I don't know. It took me back to when Tara was born. When she was born, she was this tiny little thing that needed me. Just like the Seer needed me. Its part of my job as Head Priest to see to that the Seer gets what she needs and stuff. I guess I'm compensating with the Seer what I lost with Tara. Aw, shit, I don't know."

The Head Priest looked up into Riddick's goggled face. "Rakka needs you. You two may not like the situation nor each other, but she does need you."

Riddick leaned back into his chair and sighed. "There's been too many people needin' me."

The Head Priest leaned back into his chair. "I'm lissenin'."

Riddick stared at him. The Head Priest had opened up and Riddick no doubt owed him the same. "A while back, I got caught. Some blue eyed devil name Johns. Liked to carry a fake badge and let people think he was a cop. He was just a merc, like any of 'em. We were travelin' on this ship that crashed on this colony planet. Nuthin' but deserts and scary shit that lived underground. Make a long story short, the only survivors was a kid, a holy man, and me. A lot of shit happened and I ended up savin' their asses over and over. The kid….shit, she was some runaway who dressed up as a boy to keep guys from messin' with her. She took to me like flies on honey. Shaved her freakin' head and started wearin' a pair of old water goggles. I don't know why the hell she thought I was so fuckin' great. Then I got her and the holy man to New Mecca and that's when the shit hit the fan when I tried to leave. I didn't need to be apart of her life. She was 12 years old, dammit, had her life ahead of her. She didn't need to be around me and my life. She figured since I stuck around to save their asses from all the shit that tried to get 'em I was gonna stick around for good or take her with me….I set them up in an hotel room in New Mecca, the holy man knew of some contacts in New Mecca that he could get in touch with, so they were going to be okay, I made sure of that before I left. I tried to leave in the middle of the night. Of course, kids got that sixth sense or some shit. She caught me in the hallway and asked where I was going. I wasn't gonna lie to her. She declared that she was going to go with me. I told her that she would only slow me down and get in the way. I left. I walked out."

Riddick wasn't in the mood to relive that scene with anyone. He finished up with, "I don't she's ever gonna forgive me."

"Look, ya did the best thing you could for her." The Head Priest said. "Jes like me and my daughter, best thing I can do for her is not hang around. Fuck, I missed out on her childhood and teen years, what the hell does she need me around for? Except, my excuse is that I'm a bum and you're a convict runnin' from mercs and the law. We ain't cut out to be fathers."

Riddick nodded and shifted uneasily. He's never had a heart to heart like this, at least not in years.

"But that Rakka ain't a 12 year old girl." The Head Priest said. "She's a grown woman in a shit load of trouble and none of it she caused on purpose."

"Thought I was done playin' hero." Riddick said pushing himself to his feet.

"Yer gonna go after her?"

"Fuck if I know." Riddick replied. "I jes wanna take the ship and go back where I was before I met her. Jes forget about her bitchin' ass."

"All women bitch, you know that." The Head Priest shrugged. "Its that thing about men and women. Women bitch more about whatever shit we do."

"She ain't my problem."

"You came back when you tried to leave her. You went out after the mercs that had her."

"She was a nice fuck and those mercs woulda been after me eventually."

"If you do go after her, what would you do with her? She doesn't need to hide anymore; she's no longer a fugitive."

"Take her and drop her off somewhere safe. Jes like the kid and the holy man."

The Head Priest shook his head. "It ain't gonna be that easy. I know you hate hearin' this, but I'm gonna say it for the last time and you'll never hear from me again. You and she are gonna have a kid. I don't know when or where, but it's gonna happen. You can keep tellin' yourself that there ain't gonna be a kid and then 'boom' she comes to you and sez, 'Riddick, we got a little problem', then what are ya gonna do. The prophecy says that the kid gonna reunite Hitomi, but how it don't say. So dependin' on how that kid is raised is gonna say if he's gonna be good leader for the Hitomian race or a tyrant. I jes want ya to keep that in mind when you find her."

Riddick stared at the Head Priest and said, "If that's the case, then the best I can do for her and that kid would be to drop them off somewhere safe and move on and forget about them."


	24. Transfer

After some cajoling and pestering, Riddick finally agreed to see the Seer before he left on the ship provided for him. He lowered his head as he entered the small tunnel and into the candle lit room. The Seer sat in her/his usual place unchanged from when he last her/him.

The Seer opened her/his eyes and gave him full view of the red glowing orbs. "I am pleased that you are willing to see me again."

"I ain't pleased." Riddick snapped.

"I see." The Seer said softly. "I will make this brief and let you be on your way. I will not lament upon the child. I believe that the Head Priest has made it clear the importance of your role. I will, however, speak of your future."

"Lady or boy, whichever you are, I know my future."

"To hide from and fight with mercs and eventually die in a fight?"

"I don't see myself growing old."

The Seer motioned toward a small pot of water near her/his cushions. She/he held up a small stone in her/his small white hand. She/he held it high over the pot and dropped the stone. It plopped into the water sending of drops that fell back into the water and ripples spread from the disturbance and moved toward the edge of the pot. "The water represents the universe, all the systems, planets, and all that is yet to be discovered. The ripples represent changes."

"And let me guess, I'm a ripple?"

"No. You are the stone." The Seer said solemnly.

* * *

Rakka stayed in the skiff while Toombs handled business with the repair crew. She could hear him cursing the price for repairing the small hole she had made in the hull.

"DAMMIT! Jeez! Bitch drops the gun and it goes off and it lands me with a motherfuckin' 1,500 UD bill!"

When Toombs called ahead over the intercom for request of repairs and was directed to a garage, he turned in his seat toward her, "Lissen, sweetheart, here's the story, and so help me if you don't play along, I'm gonna make you wish I was never born. We're gonna act like a couple, ain't married, jes together. You're gonna act like a dumb broad who dropped my gun and put a hole in the hull. Got it? Do I need to spell it out for you?"

Rakka didn't reply.

"You act up or try anything I don't like, let me tell you, there's plenty of room in that case beside Leonard, catch my drift? You stay on this skiff and don't think about sneaking off, cuz I'm gonna be watchin' the exit like a buzzard watches dried up rabbit on the Sahara."

She didn't reply.

Toombs gripped the back of the seat and pushed himself to his feet. "Honey, do I need to come over there and repeat what I said a little louder?"

"YES! I HEAR YOU!" She yelled.

"Don't take that attitude with me, bitch." Toombs snapped. "I'm this close from go over there and going up one side of you and down the other and I ain't talkin' sex."

She now stared out the exit ramp at Toombs and the men talking from the pilot's seat. One time….just once, she dared to stand at the edge of the ramp. Toombs whirled and cussed her out.

"GET THE FUCK BACK IN THERE! YOU'RE IN ENOUGH TROUBLE AS IT IS, BITCH!"

Some of the repair crew even had the gall to cheers. You tell 'er, show 'er who's boss, and other stuff that she rather not remember. She went back inside, her face red and fuming.

An hour later two of the repair crew headed toward the ramp. Toombs grabbed an arm of one of them. "Whoa, where are you goin'?"

"Gotta go in and set up repairs inside. Bullet went clean through the metal. And we're gonna have to close up the skiff to run several tests on the hull." The crewman said.

Toombs stared at him and then he turned his head and gave Rakka a searing look. It was a look promising severe violence if she tried anything at all. He took up his role as the possessive boyfriend. "Fine, lemme tell ya, if she comes to me with any stories about you two, you and me are gonna have problems."

"Fine." The crewman snatched his arm from Toombs' hand.

Rakka sat politely and quietly in the side pilot's seat and well out of the way. They went to the back of the skiff near the cryo unit she had refused to enter. One man knelt and inspected the bullet hole. He whistled through his teeth and said, "Damn, lady, you sure did a number on his skiff. What happened? You tried to ghost him and missed?"

Rakka had to hide a smile. He had no idea how close he was to the truth. "I was being clumsy and dropped the gun. I just wanted to look at it." She played her role as the brainless girlfriend.

"Yeah, and he knocked you hard for it." The man motioned at his cheek.

Rakka touched the bruises that had formed on her face. "Yeah, he did."

"Hey, pal, go start the hull breach test." The crewman said to his silent partner.

The partner got to his feet and walked past Rakka to the front. He tapped at the control console and flipped some switches and the ramp slowly started to close. She caught a glimpse of Toombs giving her a warning look before he was shut out from sight.

The silent partner went back to his partner. Instead of kneeling beside his partner to do whatever he was doing with the hole, he stood over the man and delivered a sharp blow to the back of the man's head. The man collapsed on the floor unconscious.

Rakka stared, not sure what she was seeing was real or not. The man turned to her and removed the orange cap on his head. Shoulder length dark hair spilled on his shoulders and he looked at with her mismatched eyes. One was blue and the other was pink.

She stared at him, trying to place his face. Where had she seen such eyes before? Where? Back on Haven….yes! "Twenty-two?"

"Yes ma'am." He replied.

"Wha….oh…..my god!" She was overwhelmed. "Are you…"

"Hurry, we ain't got much time. You're gonna have to wear this guy's clothes so's I can get you out of here."

He bent down and began stripping the man. Rakka kept staring at him. "Twenty-two, how did you know…."

"I ain't got time to explain. Hurry, strip off and toss yore clothes over here."

She moved to the front and stripped throwing the shirt and pants over her shoulder. He threw her the orange jumpsuit and she pulled it on. He tossed the boots and she placed her feet inside them, they were several sized too big and she stuffed the pants legs down inside them. He tossed the cap also, "Pull your hair up and stuff it into the cap. Iffen too long, than I'ma gonna have to cut it."

Luckily her hair fit snugly inside and several strands hung out enough to allow anyone to believe she was a man with short hair. Twenty-two yanked her clothes onto the man. He carried the man to the front and stuffed him onto the pilot's seat. He turned the seat around to face the control console.

"Okay, now when the ramp opens, we're gonna walk out. Real easy and as if it's what we're suppose to do. Keep your head down and don't say a word, lemme do all the talkin'."

She stared at his face and bizarre eyes. "I…how do I know that…..you're not…."

"That I ain't another merc stealing another merc's bounty?"

She nodded.

"Like I said last time you saw me, I ain't a merc." He headed toward the now lowering ramp. "I'm here to get you out, but ya gotta trust me."

She had no choice. Face an uncertain fate with her savior or go along with Toombs to certain doom. She allowed Twenty-Two to lead her down the ramp after it lowered and onto the floor.

Toombs was in a heated discussion over the price with the foreman. He gave Twenty-Two such a look, that she was afraid that he saw through the shame. She kept expecting him to charge them screeching, "YOU FUCKIN' THOUGHT I WAS THAT STUPID?"

She held her breath and released it only when they left the main garage area and was going down a hallway. He led her down several stairs and through a waiting room and out into the sunlit air. A hover was parked right outside the building along the street. Twenty-Two walked around and opened the driver's side and she got into the passenger side. She started to breath normally as the hover coasted down the street.

* * *

Toombs tore himself away from moneygrubbin' fatass foreman and stomped up the ramp to check on Rakka. If that bitch was trying anything he was going to….. She was curled up in the pilot's seat asleep. He turned it around. He froze as he saw the unconscious man wearing the clothes he had loaned Rakka.

Toombs screamed a string of obscenities as he whirled charged in the direction Rakka and Twenty-Two had taken earlier. His boots clang on the floor as he hurried down the halls and stairs. He cleared the holstered; gun in hand as he burst through the waiting room and out the front door. He slung his head back and forth searching the street for any orange jumpsuit clad figures.

Bitch was gone and there was nothing he could do about it.

* * *

The shuttled lifted off from the outskirts of the temple. Clerics watched it lift off and offered small prayers for it. Two souls watched it from the upper most tower of the Temple.

The Head Priest had gingerly carried the Seer up the stairs and settled her/him on the cushions arranged for her/him as if she/he was a piece of rare crystal. She/he wore a robe similar to the Hitomians. Her/his red eyes watched the shuttle disappear into the night sky and tilted his/her head.

"We will see them again." The Seer spoke.

"Yeah, I know. They got a long way of ways to go." The Head Priest took a swig from his canister he had hung from his hip. He swallowed and smacked his lips and regarded the Seer. "Ya know….maybe, ya shoulda told him the whole thing."

"The whole thing?" The Seer turned her/his quizzically to him.

"Yeah, ya know….about that…." He let his voice trail off.

"Oh!" The Seer understood and thought silently. "I wanted to….but you saw the reaction we received when he was told. It was tense enough for them without knowing that particular tidbit."

"It sure as hell may have prevented a whole mess of trouble if you had been more detailed."

"I suppose you're right." The Seer sighed. "It was a hundred years ago when I saw the vision. My visions, they are not always detailed at first. I may have been a bit foolish foretelling it so soon…..'jumping the gun' as you might say?"

The Head Priest grinned. "I wouldn't call ya foolish. In fact, yer the last person I would call foolish."

The Seer grinned back at him and said, "Still, what's done is done and there's no going back."

"Yeah, but still….how do you think he would have reacted?"

The Seer hid a smile behind her/his white hand and said, "That the Holy Child is not going to be his and Rakka's first child…..but their third child?"

"Yeah." The Head Priest started to laugh. "All those dumb fucks! Trying to get that poor girl to pop out a kid when they needed to wait for her third."

The Seer tittered softly. "They forget what my exact words were those many years ago. 'A Hitomian Princess from the Royal Family and a powerful Furyan will produce a child together after the Princess's Spring and Winter.'"

"Spring and Winter?"

"It comes from an ancient Hitomian belief and it was possibly shared by the Furyan culture, our planets being so close. It was considered good fortune when a woman gives birth to her very first child in Spring and gives birth to her second child in Winter."

"And the third?"

"It doesn't really say. It's a very, very old belief discarded centuries ago. I believe it was a poem for newly wedded women or for children. It's so old." The Seer shrugged.

"But ya know for a fact that they are gonna have three kids with each other?"

The Seer nodded. "But what I do not know….is how it will all turn out."

"But you do know that Rakka is gonna be happy within a year's time?"

"Yes."

"But you don't know how that's gonna happen?"

"That is true." The Seer shifted her weight upon the cushion. "I know the endings, but I do not know the story that leads up to these endings."

"Think they'll be okay?" The Head Priest asked.

"They have a long, long and painful road ahead of them. They will meet again and there will be children. How it ends and how it happens and the results is up to them."

* * *

Riddick tapped the console keys, arranging the ship on auto-pilot. He was in no hurry and there was no pursuit. He hiked his legs up onto the console and leaned back. He stared at the monitor where he would input a destination.

He could type in the location of U.V.6. He could type in the location of Lupis 5. Toombs was a merc, but he was smart which made him dangerous. He knew he would need more men and Lupis 5 was the ideal place to gather an expendable and brainless crew looking for glory in capturing Riddick. Rakka would still be with him….in what condition….Riddick didn't know or cared.

Riddick steepled his fingers in front of his chin, his goggled eyes on the monitor. Rakka…..she was a woman….just a woman. Thousands just like her. Thousands. She was no different than the second he first saw her, lost in the woods, wet, getting her foot stuck in mud, and being angry. He wanted her the moment he scented her in the woods.

He spent three years on U.V. 6, among the snow and finger printed grooves of the terrain. He hadn't been planning on leaving that planet, until a group of hunters showed up near his camp. They were there to hunt the yetis that roamed U.V.6, that Riddick had a run in with more than once. Riddick had used their skins for bedding and coats during his stay there.

Riddick kept low and out of sight, hoping that the hunters will get their fill of the freezing temperatures and leave. It wasn't until that one day when he was mistaken for a yeti because if his fur coat and was shot at that all hell broke loose and he had to leave the planet till the trouble blew over. He had killed three hunters and two had left the planet, sure to bring back authorities. Riddick had gotten off the planet of the ship that was taken from the Kubla Khan and left the planet. He made sure to destroy all his things that he couldn't take with him and got rid of all signs that a human being ever lived on the planet. He planned on waiting three months, maybe a year till the hunter's story was considered a drunken tale of being attacked by a yeti and things calmed down.

He figured that the ship from the Kubla Khan was reported as stolen by a Richard B. Riddick for that a merc ship attacked him while he was heading for a distant newly colonized planet where he could easily hide. The harsh weather of U.V.6 damaged the guns and weaponry on the ship and Riddick had no choice, but to make an emergency landing which didn't end too well. He barely managed to get out of the ship before it went up in flames.

He managed to get a view of the campus as the ship went down. He wanted to know who was living there before he attempted to attain a cover story. He figured that he would have to scout the building a few days before attempting to make contact, but much to his surprise and luck he found Rakka.

He smelled her and knew she was there as soon as she entered the woods. It was a long time since he had a woman, a very long time. The last time had been a waitress in a bar that invited him to come with her to the bathroom. They had a quickie in a stall and if Riddick knew that it would be five years before he would have another woman, he probably would have extended the meeting.

Johns had caught him that next day. He was shot from behind with a stun gun set to max. He was taken to Butcher's Bay where he spent almost a year and a half fighting off ruthless guards and animal mad inmates. Unfortunately there were no women being held at Butcher's Bay, at least not any that he could attain for an hour. He searched the huge prison from top to bottom finding a way out and made many thwarted attempts at an escape. He finally escaped with Johns in tow and then later escaped from Johns. While in hiding, he visited a brothel, but before he could go upstairs with a woman that caught his eye, Johns showed up. He had to skip planets and dodge into backward city slums to stay several steps ahead of Johns. Johns had to be the nest merc to ever trail him because he had to keep moving to stay ahead. But in the end he was caught a month later was caught. And on the way to the Slam they crash landed and Riddick met Carolyn Fry.

He would have slept with her if he had the chance. She stirred his desire at her play at being a leader when she was really just a follower. Something happened to her on that night, an hour before she died. She almost went with him, almost entered the escape ship with him, and almost left with him. She chose not to, she chose to go back into the dark hell and certain death to rescue the stragglers. Stragglers that he would never had considered going back for in his wildest dreams. And somehow, for some reason, he went with her. Many times he played out the scenario in his mind. He could have forced her to go with him, could have easily overpowered her and taken her with him. Hell, he could have thrown her off him and got into the ship and just left. Yet, he knew that he would have done the same thing over if he went back in time.

After Carolyn died, he was stuck with the Imam and Jack. The incident on the Kublah Khan was brief, but left impacts on all of them when Jack killed Chillingsworth. After the ugly scene of him leaving Jack behind on New Mecca, the escapade on U.V.6 and then crashing onto Haven….he was ready to vent his sexual frustrations into this lost woman.

He wasn't a rapist. He had never frightened nor battered a woman into submission. The women he 'borrowed' in the Slams were already broken husks, empty shells that offered no protest when he laid them on their backs, unzipped their jumpsuits and touched them. They offered no sign of distress when he parted their thighs and entered them. He took more pleasure from a woman writhing in pleasure beneath his body than these broken dolls, he only sought them out when his body hungered dearly to feel a warm body beneath his and he was NOT into men.

He wasn't a rapist, but he was sorely wanted her. He didn't hide the fact from her that he found her sexually attractive and was willing to take her if she would let him. She didn't until that night when he had left her to the mercs' mercy. When she said those two words 'go ahead'. He had shown restraint. He had wanted to rip off her clothes, spread her legs, and pound into her body hard till he released himself in deeply inside her, but to do so would have frightened her, would have made her resist him, not want him.

Hell, he wasn't even sure she was willing to go through with it. She was, and she let him know by licking his neck. Her body was young and sweet, and even better it was fresh. He was surprised that she was virgin….or closest to being a virgin he ever took. He was glad that he decided to be gentle with her, or else he was gonna turn her into a lesbian by scaring the hell out of her.

It turned out better than he thought. She lusted for him, he could feel it, even smell it. Each time she put her mouth on his chest, she devoured his taste as if she was lapping up sweet, sweet cream. Her only faults in sex that he could see that she gave lousy blowjobs (something that more experience would have helped) and she balked at anal sex. He wasn't into anal sex very much himself; he's seen men get anally raped in showers before.

Since that second time he had her, he….felt that she was his in a way he couldn't put in words. He knew he had control over her, practically control. Fry…Fry, Jack, and Imam depended on him, needed him. Rakka needed and depended upon him, yet she wanted him as a junkie wanted morphine and he was the drug dealer that could make the customer crawl through broken glass and burning coals on her belly just to get a fix. What amused him, truly amused him about her, was that she knew he had control and she had, bless her little heart, tried to break it. She had tried to resist him and even tried to deny him her body.

Each time, she came to him or he went to her and she accepted him with open arms and legs. Now she was with Toombs and probably being….raped. He was familiar with Toombs, but not about his sexual appetites. He knew mercs got their fucks one way or another. Either from the few female mercs, brothels, and sometimes from female bounties that they've captured. A few times, Riddick had been approached by female mercs before. Sometimes he accepted, sometimes he refused, depending on looks and how much of a bitch she's being.

The image of Toombs pressing himself between Rakka's legs irked him. He shifted in his chair and leaned forward. He was the only man to ever touch her, take her, and possessed her. When he saw her in the bar on Toombs' lap deep in a kiss, he wanted to kill her. He wanted to slit her throat and leave her in the parking lot to die. He also wanted to replace Toombs' scent with his, fuck he wanted to hose her off and then fuck her.

Riddick inhaled and exhaled deeply. He was in too deep with her. Just like Jack and Carolyn. It was hard to leave Jack and it hurt to loose Carolyn. Jack was just a kid that looked up to him and worshiped him like he was some hero and Carolyn was a woman that feared him and depended on him, but he never had any physical interaction with any of them that he had with Rakka. In some, small, very small inkling way, Rakka had a bigger hold over him than Jack or Fry ever did.

He was in too deep and he needed to get out. He knew he was still in that deep hole and that he would need to fight to get out, but he never thought he would have to fight himself.

It was his fault, he let his guard down to allow something in that he hadn't intended to enter and it was there to stay. All he had to do was harden his wall, it would still be there, but it would eventually weaken and die slowly…..making a piece of himself die with it.

Riddick never knew what he was, he never knew that he was Furyan. He did know the top titles he was under. Convict, killer, murderer, bastard, cold hearted, and in some cases dark. Being raised in adoption centers and foster homes, he never knew his background of where he came from. He always supposed that he had black and white racial background due to his skin color. What he was, was never given a name until he traveled with that woman.

Furyan. . . Furyan. . . he remembered that word before. He had read it. . .now he remembered. It was on Chillingsworth's ship, that merc ship where Jack lost a piece of her soul. It was a title of some poor soul frozen forever in a state of undeath.

He leaned forward and set the coordinates. He snapped on a mini cryo unit onto his wrist and flipped some switches. The cogs inside the mini cryo began to spin pumping fluids into his veins. He felt his body slowly relaxing and as ship was set to auto-pilot the light began to dim. Riddick leaned back into the pilot's seat and relaxed, feeling himself shutting down. The part of his mind….what he called the human side…..slowly faded and slowly….his bestial…..Furyan self surfaced.

In his mind, he saw things. Images he could barely make out, fire, screaming, grand buildings of marble and stone, and a large figure in armor towering over him. The images would always fade back, growing lighter…..he heard the voice, soft feminine speaking to him. Her words….he had trouble understanding…..more and more she spoke louder and clearer and more understandable. He could see her sometimes, wearing female warrior garment with a sword at her hip and wading through a cemetery full of grave markers. Thousands of graves, as far as the eye could see on a barren land which was once full of life, now held death.

For a brief second….for one instant that happened so fast that he barely forgotten it when he woke from cryo…….the horizon…. in his vision of where the earth met the line….it was lined with blue-violet streaks.

* * *

Rakka glanced at Twenty-Two for the hundredth time for the duration of the hover flowing down the road. She kept trying to see what he intended for her just from looking at his face. He faced forward, eyes on road like a good driver.

He glanced at her and caught her watching him. He spun his head so fast that she didn't have a change to look away. His blue and pink eyes met her blue-violet ones and he grinned. Her face flushed and she grinned back feeling like an idiot.

"Are ya hungry?" He asked.

"Wha?"

"You want me to stop somewhere and get ya somethin' ta eat?"

It felt like years since she ate that small breakfast with Noa before they went off to the Water Building before the disaster that followed. "Ah…aren't we in a hurry?"

"Not really. What's that merc gonna do? I kidnapped you again? You ain't got a bounty no more; you can go into a restaurant full of mercs and lawmen and order a steak and they can't do nothing about it."

"Okay, but I don't have any money."

"My treat."

"Okay, thank you, I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it." Twenty-Two shrugged it off.

"No, no, I want to pay you back. I had my fill of people doing stuff for me and giving me things without telling me they expected me to give them my first born child in return."

Twenty-Two stared at her. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Please don't ask. I don't think I truly understand it myself."

"Look, pay me back when ya get a job and get the money, kay?" Twenty-Two replied. "But you're making me not feel right. I feel like a cheapskate now. How about this place?"

He pulled into a small family dinning facility. Rakka said it would be fine and got out of the hover with him. She let him order for her while she chose the seats. She got odd looks for wearing oversize workman clothes, but she ignored them and sat down in a booth in the far corner away from everyone. Twenty-Two came with the food and sat across from her.

"Twe…is it alright if I ask you something?" She said softly.

"Is it about my eye?" Twenty-Two looked up from unwrapping a sandwich. "I can't help it; I was born this way…."

"No! No!" Rakka gasped. "I mean…why are you called Twenty-Two? That's what I wanted to ask you."

"Oh." Twenty-Two said smoothing out the paper wrapping. "Well, it's…cuz I like .22 Caliber pistols." He opened his jumpsuit a bit and she could see the gun strap holster with a .22 Caliber nestled inside.

"But what's your first name." Rakka said as she bit into her sandwich. The fresh tasted stroked her hunger and she took a second bit before chewing.

"Rakka Laotaner, that's an interesting name." Twenty-Two said leaning forward. "Where did you get it?"

Rakka furrowed her eyebrows over her sandwich. She hurried and swallowed and took a deep drink from her drink. "Well, my parents gave it to me when I was born."

Twenty-Two leaned back and said, "There ya go."

Rakka looked at him confused, and then feelings of hurt crept in. Did she ask a stupid question? Was she being too nosy? She just wanted to know his real name? Surely his name wasn't a number. He didn't need to make her feel foolish.

"Aw, jeez! I'm sorry." Twenty-Two said hurriedly.

She was surprise that her eyes were blurring up and that twin tears spilt from her eyes. She put down her sandwich suddenly not hungry at all, but angry and hurt. "I spent the last month and a half of my life being scared out of my mind. First a boy who should be high school tries to rape me and I kill him with a lead pipe, I'm hunted by mercs, then I run into a cruel, horrible, and unfeeling man who used me repeatedly and sleeps with other women! Then I go to a bunch of cultists that want me to get pregnant and give them my baby, and the father they want to be is the one man I would rather sell my uterus off to than have his children. I've been drugged, molested, lied to, cussed at, and that man…Toombs tried to rape me earlier! Right now…right now the last thing I want….is be ridiculed for asking a simple honest fucking question!" She dropped her face into her hands and cried. She was embarrassed to blow up like that and to be crying in public. She could feel eyes on her and hear people whispering.

Twenty-Two rubbed the back of his neck, clearly unfamiliar of how to handle an upset crying woman. "Look, lissen, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been short with ya. My name….it ain't sumthin I discuss out in public."

Rakka pushed away her food, rubbed her eyes, and said, "I want to leave."

"Okay, okay, lemme get our stuff together and we can…."

"I'm not going anywhere with you. I thank you very much for getting me away from Toombs and the meal, but as you said earlier, I'm a free woman. I'm going now."

"Now waitaminute!" Twenty-Two straightened himself in his chair. "And just where do you plan on goin'?"

"I'm going to tell the police here on this planet of who I am and of what happened. They'll either let me draw money from my account to get a shuttle home to Haven or give me a ride. I'm getting my life back."

"Lissen, it ain't gonna be simple as all that." Twenty-Two reasoned. "Come with me and I'll tell you everything."

"Tell me now."

"Not in public! Come with me and I'll explain on the way." He took her hand.

The sharp coolness of his hand shocked her anger. His skin was incredibly soft, almost like soft cream. She was so use to Riddick's rough and harden hands that the comparison of these two men's hand made her think of the comparison between hard rock and smooth silk.

"All I want is for you to ride with me and lissen, if ya don't like what ya hear, then tell me where to drop you off and I will."

She swallowed. "Fine."

They packed up the sandwiches and the drinks and left the facility. Rakka could feel eyes on her as they left. As soon as they entered the hover Twenty-Two as he promised started talking.

"I ain't a merc. I know I run with 'em sometimes and I got the look and feel of 'em, but I ain't one." Twenty-Two said quickly.

Rakka didn't think he had the feel of a merc at all. His hand…it was too soft.

"I'm employed by an owner of a huge corporation. His corporation is so fucking….pardon my language, ma'am……that he had a hand in developing the Green System's government. He even had a hand in the political trouble on Haven with the CareTaker and all the fuss over you killing his son. Let's just say that he and the CareTaker are dinner party friends. He even put up part of the bounty on your head."

Rakka swallowed and felt fear sting her chest.

Twenty-Two must have noticed her distress. "Look, don't worry. You're a free woman. When all that evidence came out about how you were defending yourself after the CareTaker had his heart attack, it pretty much shocked the political community. Anyway, when my employer heard you had been taken by Toombs from Echo, he sent me to get you out and to give you a message."

Rakka turned to fully face Twenty-Two. "What does he say?"

"He wants to offer you a home on one of his colonies. Not just a colony on a newly discovered planet. One of his space station colonies. You probably seen 'em in vids. They look like cities on a plate and covered in a bubble."

"Yes! I heard about them! I heard that they inside them, the laws of the outside don't apply."

"Yeah, they got high security to keep any loonies wantin' to escape mercs and lawmen from gettin' in. There's a huge waiting list for a home on one of his colonies, gotta take tests, medical exams, full background check and all that. But he's lettin' you cut line and get a home he's got available for you."

Rakka looked at her knees. "It's probably a shed or a shack."

"No, it…shoot, lemme show ya." Twenty-Two leaned across her to the dash board. She couldn't help, but notice a sweet smell from his hair. It wasn't musky like Riddick's nor arousing, but….it was sweet. He lifted a tab and it fell open. He removed a file and handed it to her. "Inside are the house plans."

She opened it and gasped. The house was beautiful. It was wood and painted blue with white columns along a paved porch. The windows and doors were white and the roof was light brown. The hedges were….she had to blush…..blue violet flowers and looked as if they have been freshly planted. It wasn't a mansion, but compare to the apartment she had lived in with her parents, it was a palace.

She scanned through the blue prints. It had two bedrooms and three bathrooms. A kitchen along with a family dinning room in one and a doorway that led into the den. It even had a backyard along with a garden and patio. She was amazed to see that it also had a Jacuzzi.

While her eyes devour the images, a sickening feel of dread crept over her. "I…this house is beautiful….simply beautiful….but I can't…..I've already accepted gifts from strangers on Echo and I got….pretty burned from it."

"Look, the man only wants to make it up to you about what happened. He's just a rich guy who wants to ease his guilt or make himself look good in the public eye by throwing you a house."

"I can't pay for it. It must cost a fortune to maintain and…."

"He's gonna take care of it all. As long as you're living there, he's gonna cover the costs. And trust me….the man is rich enough that the price to cover this house is like buying a stick of cheap gum to him."

"But…that's not going to look good." Rakka said quickly. "People will think that he and I are….you know…."

"Sleeping together?"

She nodded.

"Lissen, he's an old man. Old enough to be your granddad. He lost a daughter three years ago….I think she was murdered or something. Maybe he's seeing a bit of his daughter in you."

Rakka swallowed and looked at the house. "I….don't know…."

"You ain't got to decide now. How about you go and meet with him? He wants to meet you. Then you can tell him what you want to do."

"I….don't even know his name."

"Oh, his name is….Adam Chillingsworth."


	25. Chillingsworth

_"What am I doing?" _

Rakka clasped her hands together on her lap. It was cool in the shuttle as it lifted off to a ship, the Genghis Khan, which was orbiting the Planet Vana. Twenty-Two didn't bother to tell her that Adams Chillingsworth wanted to meet her abroad his ship before he took her to a take off area to board a waiting shuttle.

Twenty-Two sat across from her. He leaned back as if he looked bored. "Cold?"

"A little."

He stood and eased himself over toward a locker compartment. He opened it and removed a long white trench coat. Rakka recognized it as the one he wore when they first met on Haven. She expected him it hand it to her, but to her surprise he lifted it over her head and gently placed it around her shoulders for her.

"Thank you." She pulled the coat snugly over her shoulders. It brought welcoming warmth to her skin.

"No problem." He sat back down across from her. "It won't be much longer. Five or ten minutes from now."

"What is Mr. Chillingsworth like?"

"Well…" Twenty-Two scratched the back of his head. "He's rich, I can tell ya that. He's had influences in several governments for newly colonized systems, but he's never held an office. He's really, really into science. In fact, he's the head of several laboratories ranging from medical science to robotic engineering. I don't think there's field of science that he does not have a hand in. I mean, scientific studies goes deep into his family history. In fact, one of his ancestors developed cryogentics. We have cryo units thanks to him."

"Really?" Rakka shifted uncomfortably on her seat. "I….must look like a beggar…."

"Don't worry, it's gonna be taken care of. He's invited you to spend the night. There's a room prepared for you. He's busy right now with some project he's in charge of. He won't be able to see you until 8:00 tonight, Vana time. It's 4:00 now, so you'll have plenty of time to get ready. Oh, and you'll have a selection of clothes."

She looked down at her hands. "I…I'm glad that I'm being offered all of this, but….."

"You still don't trust it." Twenty-Two said.

"I….I'm grateful, but….after my time on Echo, I…" She didn't know how to explain it.

"You're afraid he's gonna expect something from you just like the Hitomians expected you to produce a savior or sumthin?"

She looked at his shocked. "How….did you know that?"  
"Like I said, Adam Chillingsworth has a hand in a lot of governments, even those of Hitomi before the disaster. He likes to study religion to get himself acquainted with the locals."

"Well, then I guess you heard of what almost happened….." Rakka said softly. "I think….I think that…Noa Liika tried to drug me…..and maybe…..she…..tried to…."

She remembered bits and pieces of Noa's body against hers and hands on her body. She shuddered and hugged herself as if she was freezing despite the heavy coat on her shoulders. She suddenly felt stupid for not realizing Noa's attraction toward her. All her invitations to help her bathe or style her hair…..and all those times she had thought Noa was looking at Riddick with lust, it was jealousy…..

Riddick…..She swallowed….Riddick was gone from her life……which was good, he had done nothing for her, but brought her pain. He used her, abandoned her for another woman. She was silly for expecting him…..God, she was so stupid.

She felt a touch at her knee. She looked up to see Twenty-Two leaning forward, his hand lightly touching her knee. His eyes held concern, something Riddick never had for her.

"Lissen." He said softly. "I know you've hurt before. But, and you lissen to me now, I ain't gonna take you into a nest of snakes. You ain't sellin' yore soul to ta Devil, ya just having dinner with an old man who feels guilty about puttin' you through hell. You lissen to him apologize to ya and hear what he gotta say, and then you tell him what ya wanna say to him. After that, it's all up to you. You can accept to live in that house or I can take you anywhere you want to go. It's all up to you."

Rakka looked into his eyes. Though they were mismatched, they were beautiful and unique. His blue eye was blue as an afternoon sky and the other eye was pink as a sea shell washed upon a beach. They held warmth whereas Riddick's were cold and harsh silver as steel. She noticed that his skin was pale very unlike Riddick's smooth caramel coloring. His lush dark hair framed his face and several strands of hair sprang over his eyes, very very different from Riddick's bald head….

She blinked her eyes…..why was she comparing this man to Riddick? Riddick was gone out of her life, she could move on now…

She hesitated and said softly, "Are you going to be there with me?"

"Do you want me there with you?"

She nodded and put her hand atop his. She was surprised at how cool his skin was, but then again it was cold inside the shuttle. He looked surprised at her hand on his and for a second he looked confused. She stared at his face, afraid that she may have done something inappropriate, then the confusion washed away from his face and he smiled.

He leaned back removing his hand from hers and said, "Sure, if ya want me there, I'll be there."

* * *

An hour later she was shown to her temporary room aboard the Genghis Kahn. It was large and lavish; it was exactly like the ones she seen in magazines. The bed was king size and the sheets were velvet. The carpet was deep and lush with intricate designs. The wardrobe was lined with fine clothes and stylish dresses.

Twenty-Two told her that he would be back later to take her to meet with Chillingsworth. She really didn't want him to leave her. She felt so alone aboard this ship. Better not to think about it and just keep going forward.

She took a lavish bath in a deep marbled tub. The bathroom had a fine selection of expensive soaps, shampoos, oils, and bath beads from brands she knew cost hundred and some she didn't recognize. She took twenty minutes smelling each one and deciding on the ones she wanted. As she eased herself into the steaming hot water and felt it relax her muscles and the heat sink into her bones.

She wondered what Riddick would think of this tub. It was very different from the showers she and he had used. More space for better positions. . . No no no no no no no no no no…..she will not think of him anymore. He was gone, out of her life, she'll never see him.

She dunked her head under water, hoping to clear her thoughts. She spent five seconds listening to her heart throb in her ears and the sound of water currents moving through her hair. She lifted her head up and wiped any residue of suds from her face. She soaked in the tub until her fingers and toes were wrinkled and the hot water cooled.

She got out and dried off. She slipped into a silky robe and headed to the bedroom to select a dress. She wanted something decent, but something that wouldn't make her looked like an old maid. She decided against anything with a short skirt or low v-neck collar. She selected a violet strapless dress that hugged her breasts securely and left her shoulders bare; it even came with a silk shawl.

She pinned her hair up with violet clips from a large selection of hair ornaments on the vanity. There was a clip that resembled a blue-violet flower and she placed it to the side her of her, almost behind her ear. She made herself up nicely, not out as a whore or a fast woman, but decently with blush on her cheeks and light purple bluish color on her eyes. She applied a soft pink colored lipstick and sprayed lavender on her neck and shoulders.

She slipped into low-heel shoes that came with the dress and she was ready. She checked the digital clock on the wall. Twenty minutes till 8:00, plenty of time to arrive at Chillingsworth's dinning room, if someone guided her that is.

She stepped outside, expecting Twenty-Two to be there waiting for her, instead there was a different man. He was tall; as tall as Riddick….._don't think about him, don't even try to compare him to Riddick…_and like Riddick…._dammit…_he looked dangerous, like a man who could handle himself quite well in a fight. He wore a long white and gold over coat and she could tell that he wore green pants and boots underneath. His jet black hair was slicked back and a single strand rebelliously fell across his eyes. He was pale as was common with people who spent most their lives on ships instead of planet side. He had stern aristocratic features with thick cheek bones, and a single scar along one side of his upper lip. He wore green sunglasses, why one would wear such things onboard a spaceship she didn't know, and she noticed that his left eye had a jagged scar that lanced through his black brown and down along his cheek. There was surely something wrong with his eye, but it was hidden behind the sunglasses, was that why he wore them? He stood straight with hands clasped behind his back in a military fashion. She wouldn't be surprised if he had spent several years in the military. He had a gun with a single blade inserted along the barrel….a…gun-blade?

She found herself staring and felt embarrassed. "Excuse me, but…I was….where is….Twenty-Two?"

"He is unavailable at this time. Come with me." The man had a deep sultry voice that could have commanded starship fleets in her mind, and he turned and walked down the hallway. She noticed that he wore green gloves.

She almost had to trot to keep up with him. Where was Twenty-Two? He said that he wasn't going to leave her. Had she been lied to again?

"Wait, can you tell me where he is?" She asked.

He kept walking ignoring her request. She watched his back and said, "If you don't know, then just say you don't know."

He stopped. She expected him to turn and give her a reply, but he turned and placed his hand on a switch and a door, she hadn't noticed, hissed opened. Inside she could see lights and a dinning room.

"He's expecting you." The man said.

She hesitated and entered the room; the man followed her from behind after shutting the door behind them. There was small dinning table covered in white cloth. Two dinning plates were arranged with silver eating utensils.

At one of the beautifully crafted chairs sat an old man wearing an exquisite white robe trimmed with gray. His hair was white and was thinning, but was carefully combed away from his face. He had beautiful aristocratic features which were tugged with old age and sharp green eyes watched her approach him.

He raised a wizened hand in greeting. "Dear, you look simply lovely."

A smile tugged at her lips as she approached the table. She sat down across him and said, "Thank you…I…also, thank you for your offer."

"I see that Twenty-Two has shown you the plans?"

"Yes, but…it's a beautiful house and I know that….you are trying to…"

Adam Chillingsworth waved a hand. "Now, now, I didn't invite you here to discuss your decision. I just simply wanted to speak with you and know who you are."

She noted that the man in white and gold had moved to a corner of the room where he could see everything. Adam Chillingsworth must have caught her gaze, "No need to fear him. That's Junner, a personal bodyguard."

"Is Twenty-Two a bodyguard too?"

"Oh….no….he runs errands for me." Adam Chillingsworth said casually. He shifted in his seat as if he was uncomfortable. "Tell me of your experiences……with Riddick."

She started. "Uh….Well….it…wasn't pleasant."

She felt flushed and confused. How did he know she was with Riddick? Was that what he wanted to talk with her about? What should she say?

"Forgive me, was he as Rolf was?"

"Rolf?"

"The man you killed. The CareTaker's son."

She looked at her lap. Now the dying blonde hair boy had a name in her mind. She shoved away the image and said, "Are you asking me if Riddick tried to…..rape me?"

"If you'll excuse me for asking."

This wasn't what she was expecting at all. She thought he was going to apologize to her and offer her the house. Now he was asking if Riddick raped her. Images of him pinning her on the hood of the hover and the horrible bathroom scene where she was last in the same room with him flitted through her mind.

"No, he never….hurt me….." _Not physically. _"But….he did….make unnecessary comments to me and offers."

"I see." Adam Chillingsworth reclined back in his chair.

A door opened and a waiter served the food. It was a delicacy of fish that she never had before. It tasted sweet and had a tinge of spice. She sipped sweeten wine that reminded her of cherries.

"Do you know what species of fish this comes from?" Adam Chillingsworth asked.

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Devil Fish from the planet Arla." Adam Chillingsworth said as he took a bite. "Very interesting fish. They're very poisonous. 95 percent of their bodies contain enough toxin to kill twenty men."

Rakka stopped eating. "They are cut carefully so….none of the poison parts get into the edible parts…..?"

"No, we're eating poison, but that's why it is insisted to eat Devil Fish with wine mixed with Red Bine, a plant that grows on Arla, it's the only antidote. It has a cherry taste to it."

Rakka took a large gulp from her wine glass and held her glass out for more from the waiter. She ignored Adam Chillingsworth's chuckle and drank more wine. This old man is insane! She forced herself to calmly sip her wine while Chillingsworth finished eating.

"So tell me, why do you think I eat poison as a meal and drink the antidote as a beverage?" Adam Chillingsworth asked.

Rakka took a deep breath and said, "I….I guess someone would say that Devil Fish just taste really good, but….I'm going to say that you like to….test yourself?"

"Myself?"

Rakka looked away. "Yes, to see if you have the nerve to test fate."

"Fate? What would you call fate?"

Rakka sipped more wine and said, "I…may not have the education that you have, but….please bear with me. I may be wrong. Fate is what is supposed to happen. You eat poison, you get sick or die. You drink antidote after you eat poison, you are well. But if you eat poison and drink the antidote at the same time….it's like flipping a coin. Heads you die, tails you live."

"Did you feel that way with Riddick?" Adam Chillingsworth leaned forward. "Each time you slept with him…."

It was a strange sensation to blush and go pale with shock at the same time. She parted her lips to speak, but no sound left them. She was shocked into silence.

"Forgive me. That was none of my business." Chillingsworth said leaning back. "But surely you know what a killer he is."

"Yes, I do."

"No, I don't think you do." Chillingsworth stroked underneath his chin. "You may have seen the aftermath and seen him defeat a man in combat, but have you ever seen him….in his element."

Rakka looked down at her empty wine glass. She was suddenly afraid as a sense of foreboding hollowed out her chest.

"I have something to show you." Chillingsworth turned in his chair to a large and wide monitor that Rakka hadn't noticed before. The lights suddenly dimmed and the monitor flashed on with white that almost lit the room. "This recording was taken from a hangar of a ship that was in my family."

The monitor flashed as an image of an inside of a huge hangar and in the middle was a small skiff. It looked like an emergency skiff at that, but an old fashioned one. An entrance opened and many people, possibly twenty, glided out in zero gravity heavily armed. Mercs?

A single person, a man, floated through the air with a cord attached to his belt and approached the back of the skiff. She couldn't see what he was doing, but she guessed that he was opening it. As he backed away from it, the back of the skiff opened and pale yellow foam burst from the skiff and engulfed the man and several others.

"That's extinguishing foam." A voice shocked her. Chillingsworth was gazing at the screen. "What you are about to see is magnificent."

A man that had been struggled to swim out of the foam was suddenly swallowed backwards into the ball. She stared at the foam where he was swallowed was changed to red, blood red. Another disappeared into the foam and more red whorled among the foam. Others fought to get out of the foam and the ones who were lucky enough not to be swallowed by the foam of death backed away guns out.

They all aimed their guns at the foam, watching and waiting. Rakka watched and waited too, her breath held. Suddenly at the top of the foam a face appeared. She couldn't see any details, but she knew it wasn't Riddick's. It was smaller, pale, and had short hair. A young boy? The face gasped for air and then disappeared into the foam as bullets sprayed the foam where the face was seconds ago. At the bottom a dark face appear, for a second she thought it was Riddick, but it was too dark. It took gasped for air and was swallowed back into the foam and was followed by more bullets.

Suddenly, bursting out of foam at last was Riddick. He had sprung out of the foam by the cord that had previously been attached to the single man's belt. Like a missile of death he flew through the air and slashed any unlucky merc to be within his arm length. Blood floated through the air after him as smoke would follow a missile. He spun in the air and landed with a round kick to a man who was shooting off his gun.

Her blue-violet eyes watched the image of Riddick moved with precision and excellence as he slaughtered the mercs one after another. Sometimes he moved so fast, she couldn't see what he as doing, except it always resulted in someone dying and blood floating in zero gravity. The recording was turned off as he held one man bodily up in front of him to catch bullets aimed at his heart.

The lights came on as the monitor went dark. Rakka crossed her arms and realized that her breathing was quickened. She knew Riddick was strong, she knew he could kill, she knew he could do things that others couldn't…..but seeing it is completely different from knowing. She had seen him breaking Ori Kunas's fingers, cut off a man's fingers, and snatch Harold's gun away from his hand while he held it in her face.

She was shocked that she was rocking back and forth a little.

"Perhaps, it wasn't wise to show you the recording, but you needed to see." Chillingsworth said softly. "At how much you were attempting fate each time you allowed that man to touch you…."

"He….never hurt me…." She said softly. "He….well…I….."

"I see that you are overwhelmed. I suggest that we retire for the night. Tomorrow, you will be taken to Colony 56 and moved into your new home."

"Yes, alright." She said without thinking, giving into Chillingsworth, her mind on Riddick.

* * *

Chillingsworth watched the woman follow the servant out of the dinning room and inclined his head to Junner who hadn't left his spot since the dinner began. "Dear girl, too bad she's tainted by that savage."

"Are you talking about her pregnancy?" Junner asked stepping forward.

"Hmm, yes. They tested her urine from her toilet and it came back positive."

"Do you think it wise to have allowed her to eat Devil Fish and wine, then?"

"I don't give a damn about the baby, Junner. It's so early in the pregnancy, practically two or three days old. It can still miscarry and be absorbed into her body and she not ever knew she was pregnant. Even if it does take….it won't last long. I fully intend to abort the little bastard before I display her. I won't have her having stretch marks on her flat stomach."

"What about Riddick? Do you still intend to capture him?"

"Oh, yes. And I intend for you to kill him….after the tests."

"He is the last Furyan, I had thought you would collect him?"

Chillingsworth scoffed. "My daughter already has one displayed. I simply added it to my collection of rarities. As my daughter collected killers, I collect rare animals and people."

"There is a child on Echo with blue-violet eyes." Junner commented.

"Yes, but does she have the royal Laotaner blood in her veins? Rakka Laotaner is the last of her family blood and she will continue to be. I don't plan on her procreating and extending the blood and make her less than what she already is….a treasure."

"She may have resistance to the termination of her pregnancy."

"Let her resist. It'll do her no good."

Rakka undressed and washed off her make. She bathed again and washed her hair and skin. She dressed in silken nightgown and curled into the bed. She closed her eyes and thought of one of the times she had sex with Riddick. She remembered her breasts pressed against his hard chest and his pelvis against hers as he moved within her. His breath on her face and sound of his lusty growls in her ears as her arms hugged his shoulders and his hot skin heating her skin. God, she could still taste his sweat and his tongue on hers when he kissed her.

Images of him flared through her mind like a cruel torrent of rain. Him cutting her with his knife, throwing her to the ground on Haven, letting her collapse onto the floor during her sickness, abandoning her to mercs, _selling _her to pimps, breaking Ori Kunas's fingers, 'you're not the only female now', cutting off a man's fingers, pinning her to the hood of a hover and almost raping her in the bathroom. Then the sickening image of him with Io. He had used her and cast her aside, grown tired of her and moved on.

Hot tears touched her eyes as she saw the recording flare through her mind again. She shivered with terror and wished for the hundredth time that she had never met Riddick. And for the hundredth time, she wished Twenty-Two was there.

God, she had no idea that she had been sleeping with a. . . a. . . monster. A true killer in all sense of the word. At least, he was gone from her life and she would never have to deal with confusion, the hurt, the uncontrollable lust, and his control over her mind, soul, and body.

God, she was so glad that she and Riddick used birth control.


	26. Colony

Rakka awoke to knocking on the metal door. She lifted her head and groaned.

"Rakka Laotaner, are ya awake?" Twenty-Two's voice sounded through the wall.

She forced herself to swing her legs over the edge of the bed and called, "I'm awake. What is it?"

"It's time to go. I have a ship available to take you to Colony 56. Your new home."

Rakka stared dazed at the door. Wait, she didn't agree to…..oh, she did. She did agree without even realizing she did and she only now remembered. She groaned and buried her face into her hands. What had she gotten herself into?

"Give me a moment to get dress." She called as she forced herself to groggily get to her feet. She took a few moments to orient herself from sleep and pulled on a pair of jeans and a button up blouse. She quickly washed her face and brushed her teeth. She stuffed her feet into tennis shoes and ran a brush through her hair. She was still yawning when she hit the release button to open the door.

Twenty-Two was wearing a long white trench coat he had loaned her last night and wore a white cowboy hat. He tipped his hat to her greeting. "Ready to go?"

"Go?"

"To Colony 56, you agreed to his offer."

"Oh….." She swallowed. If she refused now…. "Alright. Don't I need to pack anything?"

"You didn't bring anything with you…."  
"Oh, I must be getting scatter brain."

"You look fine."

"Thank you."

"Let's go."

She followed him to an elevator which lowered them several kilometers downward. The elevator doors slid apart to revealing a hangar. A ship was being prepped inside. It was smaller than a skiff, but durable.

As Twenty-Two made his way toward the ship he said, "It take us long time to get there. Maybe an hour or two."

"How far away is the colony?"

"It's on the outskirts of the Helion system."

That's where Riddick is from….._stop it._

The ship was indeed small. There was enough room for a pilot and a passenger to seat in the back. Twenty-Two helped her arrange her safety harness across her chest. He placed himself in the pilot's seat and exchanged information with the engineers over the loudspeaker. Rakka waited patiently while preparations for departure were made.

Finally, the hangar door was opened and Twenty-Two powered up the ship. She felt the vibration of the engines revving up through her seat and she felt the lurch in her belly as the ship lifted off. This is her fourth time being in space, and it still gave her chills to think the only thing between her and nothing was metal and glass.

"How was your dinner?" Twenty-Two asked.

"It was fine." Rakka didn't feel like talking about poisoned dinner and the medicinal wine. And the horrifying movie that follow.

"What do you think of Chillingsworth?" He adjusted some controls at the console.

"He's….very unusual person."

"Well, that's eccentrics for you."

"Where were you last night?"

"Oh….I had….checkups." Twenty-Two said uneasily. "You know…checkups on some things, part of my job."  
"I missed you last night." Rakka said softly. "I met Junner."

"Oh, what did you think of him?"

"Well, he seems pretty formal and serious. Did he use to belong to a military?"

"Yeah, I guess he got it written all over him. I believe he was apart of a special ops group. For which government or what planet I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that it was one that Chillingsworth had a hand in. Chillingsworth must have liked his performance so much, that he hired him on as a private bodyguard. He was also assigned to protect Chillingsworth's daughter a few times that is before she died. There have been rumors that….he and she may have been unprofessional with each other….know what I mean?"

"Seeing him, I find that hard to believe."

"A man's gotta have fun every now and then."

"What do you do for fun?" Rakka asked leaning forward in her seat.

"Me?"  
"Yeah."

Twenty-Two was silent. "I do my job."

"Your job?"

"What do you do for fun, Rakka?" Twenty-Two asked.

She looked at the back of his head puzzled. Why was he so eager to get the topic off him? "I…read, maybe watch a little vids."

"Oh."

They were silent for a few minutes. Rakka shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the silence. Then she asked, "Twenty-Two, are you seeing anyone?"

"Seeing as in….?"

"Dating."

"No."

"Oh."

Another uncomfortable silence.

Rakka tapped her hands on her knees thinking. It had been a while since she did this. Flirt, drop hints, and so forth. Was she doing something wrong? Usually a man picked up on hints and tips and did his part. She would have to take the reins if this was going to go anywhere. She only hoped she didn't look foolish.

"Twenty-Two?"

"Yeah."

"Um….you know….when I get situated in my…new home….would you like to have dinner with me in my first home? You know as a small celebration between us?" There it was. . .up in the air. . . it was up to him to catch it or let it hit the ground.

"I don't think so." He let it hit the ground. . . hard.

Rakka looked down at her lap, her hands folded over each other. "Oh, I understand. I mean….we're practically strangers…."

"Yeah."

She rode the rest of the way to Colony 56 uncomfortable and hurt.

* * *

The doors of the colony's main hangar slid open to accept the small ship carrying Rakka and Twenty-Two. Twenty-Two landed the ship professional in the landing bay and power down the ship. They waited while breathable oxygen was pumped into the hangar and was given the okay to disembark.

Rakka unbuckled her harness before Twenty-Two had a chance to turn and offer her help.

"Do you need help getting…."

"No, I do not!" She stood and managed to climb down the metal ladder that was placed against the ship. She glanced at his face and he looked perplexed. Well, if he was hurt than he deserved it.

As she got to the floor of the hangar a man in a light blue uniform came forward. "Welcome to Colony 56, Rakka Laotaner." He was as short as she was and was about eye level with her. He wore thick glasses and light blonde hair.

"Thank you, mister…"

"Doctor actually. Dr. Lamins. I'm the top of medical staff on Colony 56. I came to escort you to your examination."

"What?"

"It's alright. It's just procedure. We exam you and make sure you aren't carrying any infection, bacteria, or disease before we can emit you into Colony 56. We can't have an epidemic on an enclosed colony, now can we?"

"Oh, no, of course not."

"Then please come this way." He motioned toward an elevator.

Rakka wanted to say something to Twenty-Two. An 'I'll see you later' or 'will we see each other again?', but….she felt it inappropriate.

She followed Dr. Lamins to the elevator and allowed him to take her to medical facility. She didn't see Twenty-Two watch her leave with his head cocked.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, she was lying on a cold table wearing nothing, but a button up smock as a scanner was lowered over her body. A blue dim light could be seen in the slit of the oval head of the ominous looking scanner.

"There's nothing to fear, Miss Laotaner." Dr. Lamins said over a small intercom. She turned her head to see him through a large glass window standing over a console of controls. "I assure you that all this machine will do is scan your body for any serious health issues, it causes no harmful affects."  
"It's still a little scary." Rakka replied.

"Don't be scared. This is a top of the line medical machine, Rakka. Be sure to close your eyes and breathe normally and _relax_."

Rakka inhaled deeply to calm her nerves. She closed her eyes as she heard the scanner lower over her body. A long ray of blue light glanced over the table and over her ankles. The scanning head moved up and down the table slowly. The blue light traced Rakka's body up and down. Dr. Lamins read the data compiling on monitors. He made notes of her heart rate, blood levels, her white blood cell count, breathing, and any recent diseases that the machine may find, and he also made a special note on something the scanner detected at the beginning of the test. Then the scanning ended and the scanner was raised.

"Okay, Rakka, it's over. Please, remain where you are. I need to speak with you."

Rakka swallowed a lump in her throat and sat up. He sounded serious. What did he find? Dr. Lamins came out carrying a datapad. Rakka swung her legs over the edge of the table as he approached her.

"Rakka, there are two things of concern. Now, they aren't life threatening, but they need to be brought to your attention. The scanner found residue of a narcotic poison in your system. Were you sick within the last one to two weeks?"

"Yes." Rakka replied. "The….I don't know how to say this….the rations were poisoned on Haven. The rations they were handing out to refugees before the war. I stopped eating them when I found out and I started throwing up, fainting, and received these dark spots on my body."

Dr. Lamins made notes on his datapad. "I'm going to prescribe you some medicine that'll help flush that poison from your system. It'll prevent further health problems for you and your baby."

"What?"

"You're maybe 2-3 days pregnant."

Rakka sat stunned on the table while a weight inside her mind grew heavier and heavier.

Dr. Lamins shuffled his feet and said, "I take it that you weren't planning on having children at this time…"

"No…." Rakka hugged herself and curling her legs to her chest. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between them.

She was pregnant. How? How? How? Why? Why? Why? She didn't want to be pregnant. She's going to wake up and this has never happened. She'll wakeup and not be pregnant. No baby. No baby at all.

"How….did this happen….we used birth control….we were careful…"  
"There is no birth control pill that can offer 100 percent prohibition against pregnancy. It's rare, but it happens."

Her exact words before she last slept with Riddick. She counted the days. That was when the baby was conceived. She should have let Riddick use her anally like he wanted. She felt her face screw up and tears spilt from her eyes.

"I'm sorry….I'm so sorry….it's…I just don't want this baby." Rakka whimpered.

"Miss Laotaner, the baby is so early in development….it may fail and be absorbed into your body." Dr. Lamins said. "Look the baby is only within the first week of development. Right now it's traveling down a tube inside your body. There's a chance that it will fail to reach its destination and miscarry. Your body will then absorb the cells and go on as if it never happened. It's very common for women to get pregnant and miscarry without ever knowing it."

Rakka swallowed and nodded.

"I'll set up an appointment for you in five days and we'll see how the cells are doing. If you still insist on not having this baby, I can….perform an abortion for you, but I implore that you think about this for the next five days. I know it is just a bunch of cells now, but just think….it's going to become a living, breathing person like you and me one day. Yet, as it being inside your body, you do have the right to choose. I also want you to get in touch with the father and discuss this with him."

"I can't." Rakka whispered. "I just can't…."

"Is he unavailable? I'm sure Chillingsworth can get in touch him and…."

"I can't! I…I…Please, I can't get the father…." Rakka began to tremble.

"Miss Laotaner! Please, come with me. Let me give you something that will calm you down." He reached inside his pocket for a hypoderm gun. He loaded it with a sedative and held it against her arm. "This will make you sleep for a bit, but it won't harm the baby….if you choose to keep it."

She felt the slight sting as the sedative entered her bloodstream. She was helped off the table by Dr. Lamins and guided out of the examination room to a small set of room down a long hall. She was guided into one room and tucked into the bed.

It was as if she went into a time warp. She fell asleep and then she awoke to see Twenty-Two sitting in a chair beside her bed. She rolled onto her side to face him.

He gave her a weak smile and said, "The doctor said that you almost had a panic attack….are you fine now?"

"I don't know." Rakka said softly. "I am so scared now."

"Of a baby?"

"Dr. Lamins told you?"

"I made him tell me when I heard you were admitted into the hospital. I….thought you were badly hurt and I felt guilty if that happened because I wasn't there to keep it from happening."

She smiled weakly. "Thank you, I'm glad that you're concern for me."

"It's Riddick's child…isn't it?"

"Yes….he's the only man….I've ever been with…."  
"Does it hurt?"

"What hurt?"

"The baby."

"No." Rakka sat up and looked at him puzzled.

"You act as if it hurts you."

"It….a baby….it is such a huge change in someone's life. I…I don't know if I'm ready to have a child. I….don't know if I can handle it alone."

"Do you want Riddick here with you?"

"No! No! He wouldn't be much help. He'd…I don't know….I do know that he wouldn't stick around…."

"Who do you want with you to help?"

"I….don't know. I'm…all alone….my mother and father died…..I'm on a colony where I know no one…..I'm so far away from home…..I'm scared….I'm so scared…..this baby scares me so bad…..god, I don't want to be alone….I want my mother…."

"I'm not your mother, but I'm here. I'll help you. You won't be alone." Twenty-Two placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll have dinner with you, it that'll make you feel better."

Rakka sobbed and leaned forward. She hugged herself tightly to Twenty-Two's chest and cried on his shoulder. Twenty-Two mismatched eyes widen and his arms slipped uneasily around Rakka's body and he held her.

Rakka couldn't help, but notice, through her tears and distress, at how soft Twenty-Two felt and sweet he smelled.

The door opened and Dr. Lamins came inside. He was carrying his datapad and offered a grin. "I'm glad that Twenty-Two is able to give you comfort, Rakka."

"Oh, I'm sorry for the way I acted, doctor." She said as she pulled away from Twenty-Two. "It came as a shock."

"I understand." Dr. Lamins said. He held out a card toward her. "I want you to consider seeing this person. She'll be able to help you deal with….your problems."

Rakka accepted the card and read the name. Dr. Fara. "Is….this a psychiatrist?"

"Yes. Now, I am not questioning your mental state, it's your emotional state that worries me. You've been through a lot and I believe that it could be giving you stress. I would like for you to see Dr. Sara Fara an hour a day."

"Sara Fara? Her parents must have a sense of humor." Twenty-Two commented.

"Actually her maiden name is Thea. She married Henry Fara four years ago."

Twenty-Two took another look at the address. "That's next door to you."

"Really?" Rakka murmured.

"Wonderful. She'll be available to you almost 24 hours then, but keep in mind that she does have a 3 year old."

* * *

"Well…..what do ya think?"

Rakka stared up at the house. It was more beautiful in life than it did in the images. And being inside the colony was strange. The heat and the light lighting up the colony told her that it was day time, but looking upward you could see the stars and darkness of space through the bubble like ceiling miles above her head. It really confused her senses and sometimes made her feel disoriented.

"Wanna go inside?" Twenty-Two asked. He stood at the doorway and removed his hat.

"Okay." Rakka trudged up the stairs.

During the long drive to her new home, thought of the baby inside her body kept haunting her. What was she going to do? What would Riddick do? _No, don't think of him. He was gone now. _She thought of Reki and her almost failed pregnancy. It's just one baby right? Hell, the doctor said that there's a chance that there may not be a baby at all. If it fails to go through some sort of tube inside her body.

She placed her hands on her belly. Somewhere inside her, through layers of skin, muscles, blood, and tissue a tiny group of cells was making a journey though her to get somewhere where it can grow into a full human being. A human being that could possibly years from now could grow to be as big and lethal as Riddick. It was so hard to imagine Riddick started out this small. It was even harder to imagine him as a child.

The house on the inside was beautiful as it was on the outside. They entered into the kitchen and she was surprised to see that it was fully stocked with food and a single note on the counter with a single UD card attached said, 'if you don't see what you like to eat in this kitchen, then please purchase whatever you need from the store with this card. I heard they have a selection of devil fish and red bine.' Rakka swallowed and put aside the note. The house also already had furniture and décor.

"This is nice." Rakka murmured looking around.

"When do you want me to come back?" Twenty-Two asked.

"Huh?"

"You said you wanted me over for dinner."

"Oh, yes." Rakka had completely forgotten. She wasn't sure she wanted anybody over tonight. She felt that she wanted to be alone and think, but she had wanted him over and he had accepted.

"Look, I understand that you had a shock in the hospital. How about another night?"

Rakka swallow and nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry. I'm causing you trouble."

"No, no, you're the one in trouble. I'm here to help. How about two or three nights we do something together?"

"Okay, thank you. I hope I'll feel up to it." Rakka said sitting on a stool at the counter.

"I think you got a visitor." Twenty-Two commented as there was rap at the door.

Rakka looked up and could see through the screen door a woman. She wore blouse with a skirt. Her hair was pinned atop of her head and she looked about thirty years old.

"Hello?" Rakka scooted from her stool.

"Hi! I'm Dr. Sara Fara." The woman said with a grin.

"Oh, hi." Rakka said. She reached into her pocket for the card Dr. Lamins gave her. "Dr. Lamins wants me to….."

"Yes, I know. Matthew called me not long after you were released from the hospital. I came to talk with you about how we should do our sessions."

"Oh, okay." Rakka said. "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please." Dr. Fara entered the doorway. Rakka saw that she had gray eyes, but her hair was light brown.

"Ladies, I gotta go." Twenty-Two said tipping his hat. "Rakka, I'll call ya tonight."

"I already have com service?"

"Yeah, your com signal should be written on a card in your bedroom. Good bye." Twenty-Two stepped outside and placed his hat on his head and headed toward his hover.

Dr. Fara watched him leave and fanned herself with her hand. "He's so handsome. You must consider yourself lucky."

_If you think he's something then you should see Riddick…stop it._

"He's not my boyfriend." Rakka said softly. "I take it that you know about the baby from Dr. Lamins?"  
"Well, no. Dr. Lamins and I aren't allowed to divulge patient information. Patient/doctor confidentiality rule. But he did tell me that you are having a hard time adjusting."

Rakka found a pot from underneath a counter and filled it with warm water from the sink.

"Are you…happy about the baby?" Dr. Fara asked as she seated herself at the counter.

Rakka set the pan on the stove and turned it on. "I…I just found out today."

"I see."

Rakka dropped several teabags into the warming water from a small container in a cabinet. "I…Twenty-Two, he's not the father."

"Are you going to tell the father?"

Rakka went to a cabinet that held the chinaware. "I….I don't know. I don't even know where he is. I don't know if I even want him to know."

"Do you think he would want to know?"

Rakka set out a teapot and several teacups. "I don't know….maybe….I know he wouldn't want it. But I don't think he would want to abort it."

"Do you think he would want to help raise it?"

"With me? No! He wouldn't. He…already moved on to other women before we seperated. I'd just be an annoyance to him."

"What do you think he would do for the baby and you?"

Rakka set the teapot and cups on the counter. "I…I know he would do whatever he could for the baby, but not for me. Nothing for me…..He….he….." Rakka choked on a sob and swallowed. "I'm sorry, I get so…emotional….must be my pregnancy."

"Don't apologize for crying when you're sad or scared. There is nothing wrong with expressing how you feel as long as you do it positively."

"You really are a psychiatrist…." Rakka said softly.

"Do you not want to talk about this now?" Dr. Fara said reaching over to touch Rakka's shoulder. "I can come back tomorrow and start our first session….or do you want to continue and call this our first session?"

"Please, stay. I…it feels good to unload." Rakka said softly as she wiped away her tears from her cheeks. "It helps when you talk to someone completely new to the situation."

"I understand. Listen, whatever is said between us, stays between us. I already told you about patient/doctor confidentiality. And if I ask something that you are not comfortable answering, then you do not need to answer it at all. You are allowed to cry, scream, curse, and say whatever you want."

"I don't know about screaming, but I think I'm going to curse a little when I talk about the baby's father."

Dr. Fara grinned. "That's alright. You do whatever you need to feel better. And call me Sara. I want us to become friends too."

"Thank you." Rakka glanced at the boiling tea. She quickly turned off the stove before it could boil over.

"So, tell me about the father….was he….abusive toward you?"

Rakka paused as she lifted the pot from the stove. _Where do I begin? _"Oooooohhhhhh…..as in?"

"Did he ever hit you?"

"Well….once….twice….three times….but….I don't know how to explain. He's never, you know….hit me for burning dinner or hit me with his fist. He wasn't exactly a boyfriend or anything. It was more like he was restraining me."

"Restraining?"

"You know….I….oh…Let me think…..you when a child misbehaves and you grab his shoulders or arms and look them in the face or whisper harshly in their ear of what they aren't suppose to do. It feels that way when Riddick did those things to me. Like he was reminding me he was much bigger and strong than me and he could easily kill me if he wanted."

"Has he ever threatened your life?"

"A few times, but you know….as a reaction to whenever I say something or do something….it's so complicated to explain. It's not like those relationships where the boyfriend is jerk or is drunk and just beats up the girlfriend to alleviate anger. He wasn't even my boyfriend."

"Yet you have had sex with him."

Rakka poured the hot tea into the teapot and said, "Dr. Fara, you should see him. You thought Twenty-Two was handsome….and he is, and he's beautiful…..but Riddick….just looking at that man would make a nun remove her habit and quit the convent. Excuse me."

"No, no. I wish you have a picture of him so I can see this God's Gift to Women man."

Rakka giggled as she set the full teapot on the counter. She turned to look out the kitchen window over the sink and crossed her arms. "I'm afraid I don't. But….he's big, not as in fat, but as in muscles and height. He looks scary, in fact he scared the hell out of me when I first saw him. He's not a pretty face like Twenty-Two, but he's attractive. He's one of the few men I've seen that looked sexy bald. His skin is smooth and hard…not callous, but lining hard muscle. His hands are rough….but they feel good on my skin. And it's not just his body that'll send shivers down your spine….it's his voice….gravel that vibrates against your spine. It's like….excuse me for saying this…..a vibrator for your ears."  
Dr. Fara choked on her tea and laughed. "I take it he must have been something wonderful in bed…."

"Oh yes…I….really shouldn't say….he's the only man I've ever been with…he was my first."

"I see."

"But I have no complaints….except….that…..I began to dislike it."

"He's stop…"

"Oh, it was great….but there was time where I didn't want to have sex with him."

"Did he force you…."

"No, more like seduce. But…I don't know….I felt empty each time it was over….like I gave him something, but he didn't give me anything back in return, except his body…."

"What did you want from him, Rakka?"

Rakka looked down into the sink…. "I don't….I….he didn't care about me as much as I cared about him…..I don't want to care about him….I want to hate him…not love him…."

Tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped off her sink and landed in the sink.

Dr. Fara looked down at her mug. "How do you think he would react if you told him how you felt?"

Rakka wiped her eyes. "I…I once told him that I loved him….after we had sex the first time….I don't know why I said it. It just came out. I….was happy and I guess I was trying to be affectionate with him. It just came out without me thinking. He gave me this look….like I grew a second head. I quickly said I was talking about the sex….I guess I really was back then."

"Would you be willing to tell him this again and this time tell him that you mean it?"

"No. I wouldn't dare. I'd just get hurt again. He's already hurt me enough. Besides, I may love him, but I don't like him. It's so strange. I love him and I hope he's alright out there, wherever he is….but I….don't want him around me anymore. I don't want him in my life anymore."

"What if he wants to be here for the baby…?"

"He can't."

"But…."

"No, not as in I won't let him be there. He…he's…oh god, my baby's father is a killer and an escaped convict. He's got a huge bounty on him and he's constantly being hunted by mercs."

"I see."

There was a moment of silence between them.

"Rakka, are you planning on having the baby?" Dr. Fara said softly.

Rakka swallowed. "I…don't know. I'm all alone….I have no one to help me….I don't even have a job. I was in college until….my mother got sick and I had to care for her. My grades dropped and I had no choice but to drop out. I didn't tell my mother that though, I told her I was taking a semester off to care for her. She died later though. I have no family left."

"That must have been sad. What do you think your mother would think about the baby?"

"She'd be happy she's getting a grandchild, but she'd be mad that I'm not married."

"Do you want to get married?"

"I….yes….but with the right man….not Riddick…..not him…."

"Are you thinking about Twenty-Two?"

"What? No, I….I don't know him yet…."

"It looks like you two will get to know each other soon."

"Yeah, he's nice….but sometimes….I don't think he understands things…."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know his real name. When I asked….he got agitated with me and smarted off. Then….on our way here….I kept dropping hints that I….was interested in him. I practically asked him over for dinner tonight, but he turned me down. He didn't even give me an excuse, such as, 'can't, I got work tonight' or 'tonight isn't a good night for me'. It was like he didn't want to and wasn't afraid to let me know it. He only agreed to have dinner with me because he felt sorry for me when I panicked at the medical facility. I…don't know….if I want anymore to do with him."

"Rakka, I understand you have a lot of heavy decisions to make over the next few days and you are in a stressful and emotional state. I want you to know that I am just next door away from you. You can come over anytime you feel like you need to talk."

"Thank you." Rakka said softly.

"But about you not having family, Rakka, your baby is going to become either your son or daughter one day. Please, think about that."

Dr. Fara finished her tea and left. Rakka watched the dishes in the sink and put them away dried. She stared out the window in deep thought.

* * *

She lay in bed in the dark. She had eaten a small dinner, showered, and gotten ready for bed. She curled onto her side, her hands on her belly. She didn't feel that she had enough energy to fully dress for bed. She had enough energy to pull on a pair of panties and simply crawl into the cool sheets that soon warmed to her bare body heat.

Riddick never left her. He had left a small, tiny piece of himself with her. And it's up to her whether it affects her life or not. Hell, her life was already affected. She pulled the blankets tightly around her and closed her eyes to have a hopefully dreamless sleep, when the com started beeping alerting her to an incoming signal.

She rolled over wondering for a few seconds of who it could be. Then she remembered Twenty-Two.

"Hello?"

"Hey. It's me." Twenty-Two's voice said.

"Hey."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"So….how did it go with Dr. Fara."

"It went alright, I like her. The session gave me a lot to think about."

"Has your feelings change over the baby?"

"Well, I still don't know what to do with it. I'm no longer stunned from shock anymore."

"You could keep it."

"I could…."

"Chillingsworth could give you any financial support you would need for a child." Twenty-Two replied. "He is. . . in a way. . . responsible for you getting pregnant. You wouldn't have met the guy if it wasn't for the huge misunderstanding."

"But that would look strange."

"How so?"

"Because people will think the baby is his…."  
"And not Riddick's…."

She shifted uncomfortably. "How come everybody knows that I've had a sexual relationship with Riddick?"  
"It's an only natural assumption. He's a full grown man, you're a young woman. You two were alone together a lot. It's an automatic assumption in today's world and life that when a man and a woman are alone together that they would participate in sexual actions with each other."

"Boy, you sounded like my one of my old college professors." Rakka commented.

"Sorry."

"I wasn't complaining." Rakka fiddled with the blankets over her lap and said, "Does it bother you that I'm pregnant?"

"No, why would it?"

"I…don't know…I thought it might….turn you off."

"Turn me off?"

"You know….find me not attractive…."  
"You haven't gotten big yet. You won't for several months."

"No, I mean….you aren't….put off that I'm pregnant with another man's baby?"

"You mean I would become possessive of your body and want you to have my children instead of another man's children and thus find you undesirable and find another eligible woman in order to have my offspring and continue the preservation of the human species?"

Rakka stared at the com in her hand. At first she suspected he was joking, but he sounded so serious. "I…well….I never heard it put that way…yes."

"Not at all, I am unable to have children."

"Oh….I….I'm sorry to hear that…."

"I was born that way too, along with my pink eye."

"Have you tried having children?"

"No, never."

"Then…how do you know….! You're not….oh god….you're not…….?"

"Castrated? No."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Rakka blushed. "I….I guess I'm asking you too personal questions."

"It doesn't offend me at all."

"I'm glad. I must sound like a kid asking you so many questions."

"Oh, it's no annoyance. I understand that you are simply interviewing me as a potential mate and father for your offspring."

Rakka stared long at the com in her hand before saying, "I…Twenty-Two…..you really aren't like any man I ever met before."

"Is that a compliment?"

"I….well….let's say that this is an interview…..are you interested in the job?"

There was a long pause.

"I must say that it….intrigues me….."

"Do you want to….I don't know…..people usually date a long time before rushing into…..lifetime commitments….I mean…we have to like each other first. . . and that's only the first step of many."

"We can…. 'date' and see….."

"Yeah, that would be a good idea."

"Good…do you want to go on a date later this week."

"Sure."

They set up a date and time and Rakka hung up the com almost overwhelmed. Twenty-Two was very much unlike Riddick. He was so brutally honest.

Rakka curled up in bed and thought, _Potential mate and father for my offspring, huh?_

Rakka made a sudden decision. It was quick and it almost scared her at it's depths. It would mean serious changes in her life, and not just the escapades she recently been through. It would no longer be just her alone anymore.

Rakka had a good nights sleep and in the morning she surfed the Network for information on pregnancy, breastfeeding, and other information that any first time mother would be curious about.


	27. He's Back

Riddick opened his eyes as the cryo woken him for emergency purposes. The robotic voice kept echoing that there was a breach in the hull. He waited patiently for the feeling in his limbs to slowly return and he was allowed movement. He typed at the controls for a damage report. Something had penetrated the left wing and had hooked the ship like a fish. He changed the camera on the monitors and saw that a harpoon like missile had penetrated the wing and a long thick cord was reeling him in like a fish.

This felt too familiar for him….too much like the incident with the Kubla Khan.

There was an incoming message from the intercom. "Richard B. Riddick, you are under arrest. Richard B. Riddick, I repeat, you are under arrest. Give up peacefully and no harm will come to you"

Damn, how many times have he heard these words before?

"Shit." He murmured.

* * *

"They have him." Junner reported to Adam Chillingsworth.

The old man was reclining in a large over chair with bottle of wine and wineglass at the small table by his side. He reached a wizen hand and took up the half full wine glass and brought it to his lips. He took a small swallow and said, "What is the death toll?"

"50 deaths. 30 wounded. 10 may or may not survive." Junner replied. "70 percent is knife wounds and the rest is from guns or tasers. They had to hit him with five stunners at full power. He suffered a small bullet wound to his side, but he's healing up nicely. He's being transported to Colony 56 now."

"Good." Chillingsworth set his wineglass down. "Prepare my transport. I want to be on Colony 56 as soon as possible. Are the cameras set up in the household?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. I want to know what she does. I want to know what she knows. I want to see what she sees. If she stubs her toe, I want to know it before she does."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Rakka sat at the small desk in the study poring over her notes and information she printed from the Net. She jotted notes into a small notebook which she labeled her pregnancy book.

_"I don't know about breastfeeding beyond 6 months. I know I was weaned at 7-months, but from the information I've been reading they say its okay to breastfeed toddlers. I'm not sure about that. Don't toddlers go through a biting stage? I don't want to get bit, even if it's my own baby. I'll have to wait and see. It's a long time from now and maybe my feelings will change as they have about the baby."_

Rakka made a note to check up on breastfeeding toddlers and checked the clock. It was almost time for her appointment with Dr. Lamins. Maybe she could speak with him about breastfeeding or maybe he could recommend her to a good prenatal doctor. Rakka placed all her things into a folder labeled Baby Folder and placed it into the drawer in her desk.

It was so much information for her to absorb. Pregnancy care, diets, symptoms, plans, breastfeeding, and other stuff she could remember. No wonder having babies was so expensive.

She ran a brush through her hair several times and sighed. She was in her first trimester meaning that pretty soon she'll be getting the 'morning sickness' meaning she's was going to start throwing up meals.

So far for the past few days she had been the mood swings. One moment she could be laughing at something funny on the vid, but whenever she thought of Riddick, she would burst into tears and cry as if she had been slapped in the face.

Twenty-Two was coming to pick her up soon. She didn't have a hover of her own, nor did she know how to drive. Two days ago, he had called and offered to give her lift to her appointment and even gave her his com signal.

They had spoken on and off since then, mostly about her house, her sessions with Dr. Fara and the baby. What bothered her was that she still didn't know his real name. Whenever she would pick up the nerve to ask again, he would change the topic or end the conversation. She had a chance to ask again today when he's not able to evade the topic.

She glanced out the kitchen window and saw Twenty-Two's hover pulling up on the curb. She took a quick glance at her looks in the mirror near the door and went outside.

Twenty-Two had gotten out and was opening the passenger door for her. He had to be the most polite man she had ever met. Any other man would have made her open the door for herself, she knew Riddick would. "You look nice."

"Thanks. So do you." He did look great. He was wearing the cowboy hat and the white trench coat. His long dark hair curtained about his face and his blue and pink eyes gleamed appreciatively at her.

She did something daring. She walked up to him and placed a hand at his shoulder and kissed his lips. It was a quick kiss, just a bit more than a peck on the lips, but it made her face flush. She stepped back and Twenty-Two was looking at her. At first she thought she had offended him….but he was looking at her as if a scientist was seeing something interesting from a specimen.

"Uh…was….I wasn't suppose to do that…." Was all she could say.

"No, it was alright." Twenty-Two assured. He reached out and touched her arm and pulled her close.

His lips touched hers. She closed her eyes and parted her lips. Her tongue slide into his mouth and he jerked away, hand over his mouth.

"I'm sorry!" She exclaimed. "I…I must taste bad…..or bad breath….." God she was so embarrassed.

"I've never kissed before."

"What?"

"I've never been kissed before. You're my first."

Rakka looked away blushing. He was handsome, innocent, and…..inexperience. She felt even more attracted to him than she ever had before.

"We might need to hurry. Your appointment is within 15 minutes." Twenty-Two said.

"Oh, yes." She got into the hover and watched Twenty-Two walk around and get into his side.

As he buckled his seat belt he looked over at her and caught her smile. "You're happy."

"Yes, I am."

"Was it because of the kiss?"

"Yes and…..it feels nice being with you."

"I have that affect on you?"

"Yes….and….I feel like I'm finally getting control of my life back. I feel so good right now, Twenty-Two. I feel so good. I'm…no longer afraid, I'm not having to look over my shoulder. I can finally look forward to things that I never thought I could ever experience or have. I'm going to have a baby, I have a beautiful home for a family, and I have you."

"Are you still worried about the baby?" Twenty-Two started the engine.

"A little. You must know of the trouble I had on Echo. Those people wanting me to get pregnancy with….Riddick's child. I guess they got their wish….."

"Are you afraid that they may come and take the child from you?" He pulled away from the curb and coasted down the street.

"Sometimes." Rakka admitted. "But I'm sure that I'll be safe here on Colony 56…..and…..I know that you'll….protect me?"

Twenty-Two smiled and placed a hand at her shoulder. She reached up and took it in hers. She couldn't help but realize, again, at how his hand was so soft.

* * *

John looked nervously at the man in the upright gurney. The man was large, bald, and wore black goggles over his eyes. Thick metal restraints were around his throat, wrists, upper arms, ankles, thighs, and waist. A thick metal bit was wedged between his teeth, forcing his lips into a thick grin.

What kind of man was so dangerous that he had to be so restrained? He had recently became an intern at the colony's medical bay and he had heard tales of people who survived an attack from the infamous Richard B. Riddick. And it was this man right here restrained tightly in the upright gurney that he was told of the stuff of nightmares.

John led the way for the gurney and the five armed men that followed it. They all held their guns powered up and aimed at the man's head. John swallowed a lump in his throat as he typed in the access codes to gain entrance into the medical facility on Colony 56.

* * *

Rakka lay on the cold scanning table in a smock while the scanner observed her body. She felt more comfortable than she did five days ago. It was five minutes before the scanner lifted upwards and powered down. Rakka sat up as Dr. Lamins entered the observation room with datapad in hand.

"I definitely see an improvement in your system. Keep takings the medication and within one more week your system should be completely free of the poison. As for your baby, the zygote has implanted itself in your womb and is drawing nourishment. So far, it's looking good. It won't be long till you start vomiting, so I suggest you stick with light meals, but eat when you feel hungry."

"Thank you. I am so glad to hear that." Rakka said happily.

"So you agree to keep the child?"

"Yes."

"Congratulations." Dr. Lamins said. "Do you want to…contact the father?"

"I'm afraid that I cannot do that." Rakka said softly, looking away. "He…I can't find him….and I don't think that he'll be able to help me."

"I see."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between them, before the doctor said, "I want to go ahead and prescribe you some prenatal pills. And I also want to set up your next appointment. Let's say in….two weeks?"

"Sure, that would be fine."

"If anything happens or comes up, call me. If you feel any cramping or you start bleeding vaginally, please call me _immediately_."

"Yes, I have your com signal."

"Good." Dr. Lamins checked his watch. "I hate to hurry you along, but I have to scan a newcomer to Colony 56 in a few minutes."

"I see I'll get dress right now."

"Be sure to stick around long enough for your prescription and meds."

"Yes, I will."

Dr. Lamins left and Rakka went into the small in the back to change into her clothes. Dr. Lamins went into the console room to record the information from the scanner and reset it for the next patient.

The twin sliding doors open to reveal something the doctor had never thought to see. A large man restrained in metal braces on an upright gurney surrounded by armed men.

John, an intern, stepped forward. "This is Richard B. Riddick. It's policy that every person entering the colony is to be scanned and given a clean bill of health before entry is allowed."

"Yes…..I have a civilian inside the scanning room getting dress. It'll only take her a few more minutes to finish. Ah, there she is."

Rakka stepped into the console room and froze as her blue-violet eyes landed on her baby's father. Riddick made no reaction, but she could feel his eyes on her as if they were hands holding her in place.

_Oh, my god! Riddick. Riddick. Why is he here? Why is he here? Does he know? Please, don't let him know about the baby. He shouldn't…God, please let him leave me alone! Please! I just got my life back…Please, don't let him take it from me! Please!_

Rakka swallow the bile that was threatening to make her vomit. She stalked forward, her eyes set ahead and not on Riddick at all.

_One step at a time. One foot in front of the other. A little more and you'll be out of the room and down the hall and safe. There's no way he'll know where you live now…no way he'll know about the baby._

"Miss Laotaner, I just want to double check your home address. It's for the prescription vitamins for your _pregnancy_." Dr. Lamins, _may his soul forever burn in hell_, was typing at his datapad. "You live at 41st street on Red Lane? In the blue house with white windows? You look like you're in a hurry, if you want I could call you later and we can set up what time of day you would like to come in and checkup on your _baby's_ health. You're still early in your first _trimester_, but it doesn't hurt to take precaution in an early _pregnancy_."

"Thank you, doctor." She fled down the hall as if Riddick was on her heels.

* * *

"Whut are you lookin' at?" A sharp blow was delivered across Riddick's face as he tried to crane his head to follow Rakka. Riddick released a small grunt from behind the bit.

"Fucker kills Booker, Dwuain, Greg, and 20 other men and now he's checking out women." Another man sneered.

Dr. Lamins swallowed and said, "You'll need to take him inside and I'm afraid that he'll need to remove his clothes. The scanner cannot correctly collect data if fabric is blocking…"  
"Yeah, yeah, we know, doc." Another man said. "Wheel 'im inside and strip him. And hurry, Chillingsworth ain't paying us by the hour."

* * *

When Rakka entered the waiting room, her eye scanned for Twenty-Two. He was gone from the chair he was sitting in when her name was called. She went to the receptionist desk. "Excuse, but where is the man that was sitting there waiting for me?"

"Oh….he left 10 minutes ago." The elderly woman replied. "I think he received a call from work."

"Oh….."

"But….is your name Rakka Laotaner?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then there is a cab outside waiting for you to take you home." The elderly woman motioned toward the door. "He's such a thoughtful man. He made sure that you would have a ride home."

"Yes, thank you. He is." Rakka hurried from the desk to the double doors. There was a hover cab waiting for her down the front steps. She hurried down the steps, almost tripping. She kept expecting the double doors to burst open and Riddick to come tearing after her.

"You Rakka Laotaner?" The cabby asked as she stumbled down the steps.

"Yes, please, take me to 41st street on Red Lane. Please hurry." She practically jumped into the cab. She looked out the window as the hover pulled away and coasted down the road. There was no Riddick charging out the front doors. God, why was she so afraid for? So she was pregnant, and why would Riddick be interested? It was his baby, big deal, it's not like he wanted it or anything.

None of these thoughts made her feel any better.

If she had stayed longer in the medical facility, she would have heard the emergency sirens rang and gunshots go off from the examination area.

Rakka was glad that Twenty-Two had already paid off the cab driver when she was dropped off at her home. She didn't even bring a purse with her nor her UD check card. She ran inside the house and dashed to her living room where a com was sitting between two chairs.

She fumbled with it till she forced herself to calm down enough to steadily dial the com signal for Twenty-Two. It beeped for a few moments and someone answered.

"Hello, this Chillingsworth's reception, how may I help you?"

"Yes, I need to speak with Twenty-Two…"

"I am afraid that he is unavailable at this time."

Rakka mouthed a small curse. "When can I get in touch with him? It's very, very important that I speak with him."

"I can leave him a message and he'll get back with you when he can."

"Alright, tell that Rakka Laotaner called and she needs him to call me back as soon as he can."

"Will do." The receptionist said. "I take it that he has your com signal?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll make sure that he gets back with you soon."

"Yes, please, thank you." She hung up the com and felt cold terror settle on her shoulders and arms.

She felt the lurch in her belly and she ran to the bathroom. She managed to ready herself over the toilet before vomiting what breakfast she had earlier. When she was through, she flushed the toilet and washed her face. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and saw that she looked so pale and scared….exactly like how she felt. She wondered if she had vomited because of her pregnancy or because of her terror.

She rubbed her eyes and forced herself to think. Riddick was heavily restrained and surrounded by men who had guns aimed directly at him. There was no way he could have escaped without suffering severe injury. And he couldn't get to her. If by some fluke he does escape unscathed, then why would he come after her? She was nothing to him….he had moved on….

Baby. She placed her hands over her belly. Would he come after her for the baby? That would be the only reason why he would come for her. What was he going to do? Wait around 9 months till she gave birth and take off with her child? Impossible. Knowing him, he would be so self involved that he wouldn't even come near her. He would be too busy trying to get off the colony. She may be fretting over nothing.

She took several deep breaths to calm her nerves and hugged herself. If Riddick was going to come after her, than he sure wasn't going to show up today. She took a long hot shower and wrapped herself into a laundry tumbled bathrobe. She even went as far as to make herself some hot chocolate to relax herself. She even watched a few shows off the vid.

Maybe….just maybe….she imagined the whole thing. It sure felt like it, yet she kept an ear out for the com to screech about an incoming call. She tried several times to get in touch with Twenty-Two, but the receptionist kept insisting that Twenty-Two was not available.

Rakka gave up and decided to try again tomorrow morning. It was already night, and no word about any disturbances from the medical facility. If Riddick had been real and if he hadn't already gotten free then chances are that he wasn't.

She turned off the vid and washed her mug in the kitchen sink. She locked the doors and the windows and went upstairs to the bedroom. She pondered if she should change into her nightshirt, then decided that it wouldn't hurt to sleep naked tonight. Besides she was too tired. She entered the bedroom and turned to remove he robe to hang on the hook attached to the wall…..she felt eyes on her bare back as she was slipping out of the robe. She looked over her shoulder.

Riddick was reclined on the bed, hands laced behind his head and legs crossed as if he was relaxing. His goggled eyes were on her and a smirk stroked his lips. Rakka leaned forward and placed her forehead against the hardwood. She wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.

She shrugged her robe onto her shoulders and placed her hand on the doorknob. Should she run for it? Would she be able to get downstairs and get to a com in time? Would that damn receptionist be there to tell her that Twenty-Two was still unavailable while Riddick slit her throat?

"You care to explain this shit?"

She looked over her shoulder and saw that Riddick was holding up her Baby folder. Where she had neatly straightened the papers together, they were crooked as if someone had flipped through them and hadn't bothered to straighten them.

"You hear me?" He asked sitting up and swinging his long legs over the edge of the bed.

"You know what it is." Rakka replied keeping her voice even. "You know exactly….you heard the doctor….."

"I wanna hear it from you."

She turned, her teeth gritted. "Alright! I'm pregnant! I'm knocked up! I got a bun in my oven! You unloaded your truck into my shed! Your hog is in my ditch! Your file is downloaded onto my hard drive! Do you hear that? Huh! DO I NEED TO SCREAM IT OUT! I'M FUCKING PREGNANT!"

Riddick stood and he was across the room and towering over her. She backed against the door, her hand gripping the knob so tight, her knuckles were white. She saw Riddick swallow, slight movement in his cheeks, his face hard and eyes on her face.

"When?"

She didn't know whether he wanted to know the conceiving date or when she found out. She answered both, "I got the news from the doctor five days ago. We counted the days and it seems that it was our last night together…..before you almost….." She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"We used birth control. How the fucking hell…."

"I told you." She said in a low voice. "I told you that those damn pills weren't 100 percent full proof against pregnancy. It says so on the goddamn box. 98 percent protection. The doctor said that it's rare, but it happens. I told you that we shouldn't have….but you…."

Riddick slammed his fists on either side of her head as if blocking her escape. He leaned forward on his arms, bending his elbows; bring his face inches from hers. "I wanted to fuck you in the ass, remember…..but you got skittish on me, remember? Don't go puttin' the blame on me, bitch. Don't you dare."

Rakka swallowed. She could feel his warm breath on her face and he was so close….please….no…..she felt her heat rise and unwanted feelings clenched her loins. She clenched her other hand till her nails bit into her palm; she hoped the pain would wash away the lust.

"It's done, over." Rakka whispered. "Nothing we can do about what happened then. I'm pregnant. I didn't want to be and you didn't want me to be, but it happened anyway."

Riddick tilted his head at her and said, "How do I know….that it's mine?"

Rakka stared at him. "What….do you mean?"  
"How….do….I….know…that….the….kid…..is…..mine?" He pronounced each word carefully as if she was a slow child.

Rakka felt herself taking deep breaths to keep the sea of rage a bay. "Who the fuck do you think the father is?"

"I don't know…Loyal? I think he had a little thing for you….maybe Errol? Not likely, but who knows with that crazy fuck. The Head Priest? Naw….I think he's hung up on the albino. I know….Toombs."

She swallowed back a scream of outrage and said in an even voice, "Toombs tried to….but I didn't let him. You are the ONLY man I have ever been with. You are the father, Riddick. I swear on my life, that you are."  
Riddick licked his upper lip in deep thought. "What the hell is this shit?" Rakka stared at him blankly. Riddick leaned back and motioned to the ceiling. "The house. How the hell did you get all of this? Something Chillingsworth gave you? Last I heard, Toombs had your ass and was on his way to Lupis 5."

Rakka swallow, she had dreaded this. "Yes, Chillingsworth gave me the house."

"And you accepted it."

"Not….really…it was kinda forced on me."

"Shit." Riddick stepped away from her and walked to the middle of the room. He turned and looked at her. "Goddamn! You are such a stupid bitch!"

Rakka narrowed her eyes. "How so?"

"You'd think you learned from all the shit that happened on Echo. When somebody gives you shit, they're gonna expect shit back from you." Riddick said in a hard tone.

Rakka crossed her arms and replied, "I'm pretty sure that he owed me. He's put up part of the money for a bounty on my head!"

"Were you dropped on your head when you were a kid?" Riddick snapped. "Godammit! Rakka, dammit, he's the last person you need to trust!"

"And I should trust you!" Rakka yelled. "I saw you!"

"Saw me?"

"I saw you with Io! I saw you kissing her!"

There was a moment of silence and then Riddick said, "So?"

Rakka stared at him. "So?"

"I kiss you, I kiss Io, I kiss a lot of women. Big fucking deal."

Rakka dug her fingers into her arms. "Why are you here?"

Riddick stared at her.

"Why the fuck are you here?" Rakka repeated.

"I got caught." Riddick replied. "While I was on my way to U.V.6. Imagine my surprise seeing you."

"Yeah, but why are you here in my house and not out in the hangars stealing a ship." Rakka hissed. "I'd thought you would be long gone by now."

"I couldn't get to a ship. Too many guns firing. There was a lockdown and now nothing goes in or out without being targeted by missiles from the Colony 56 firing range."

"So you decided to come here." Rakka leaned against the door. "No."

"No?"

"No, I don't want you here." Rakka snapped. "I want you gone."

Riddick scoffed and tilted his head back, a smile across his full lips. He looked highly amused.

"I mean it, Riddick." Rakka said stepping closer to him. "I mean it with all my heart. I don't want you here. I don't want you around me. I don't want you in my home. I don't want you….around my baby. You are dangerous and I don't trust you. I want you to get out now and never come back into my life again."

"And how are you going to make me leave?" Riddick stepped closer to her.

Rakka swallowed. "I'll call Twenty-Two and tell him that you are here."

"Twenty-Two? That gardener merc?"

"He's not a merc. He works for Chillingsworth."

"Doing what?"

"Don't change the subject!" Rakka snapped. "I want you gone! Get out!"

"What do you know about Chillingsworth?" Riddick asked.

"Riddick, no! You will either get the hell out of my house or I'll…."

"Call Twenty-Two?"

"Yes!"

"You got his com signal?"

"Yes, I do! And I will call him!"

Riddick walked over to the bedside and picked up the com. Rakka expected him to smash it or hold it out of her grasp, except he turned to her and said, "What's his signal?"

"What?"

"His signal!"

"Uh….765-B23….what are you….?"

Riddick was dialing the signal into the com. He held it to his ear and waited a moment. "H'lo, I want to talk with a Twenty-Two….he ain't there?...Tell 'im that Richard B. Riddick wants to talk to 'im….I'm at Rakka Laotaner's house…..41 on Red Lane, signal 765-G43…..Riddick…..yeah, two D's…..thank you, you sound sexy too."

Rakka stared as he hung up the com and turned to face her. Riddick scratched the back of his neck and said, "He ain't there, but I left a message for ya. So, what are ya gonna do to get me out of the house?"

Rakka was stunned.

"Want me to call the police?" Riddick turned to the com, hand reaching out to lift the com from its cradle.

"What do you want?" Rakka yelled.

"I want to know why the hell you are here?"

"None of your business!"

"What do you know about Chillingsworth?"  
"He's a rich man! He felt guilty about helping to put a bounty on me and…."  
"Rakka, his daughter was fucking psychopath!"

Rakka stared at him and felt her blood turn cold. "What are you talking about?"

"Three years ago, me and two others got caught by merc ship called the Kubla Khan. It was owned by this woman, Chillingsworth. She was crazy. She captured killers and froze them into permanent cryo. She kept the poor fuckers around as statues. She planned the same for me before she died."

Rakka stepped back. "Please, don't tell me that you killed her."

Riddick had a solemn look on his face. "I killed a lot of mercs on that heap, but no, I didn't kill her."

"But you had something to do with it." Rakka said softly.

"I guess you can say that."

Rakka wanted to sleep. She wanted to crawl into bed and just sleep and just forget.

Riddick interrupted her haze. "He wants something from you, Rakka."

Rakka looked at him. "He hasn't asked for anything."

"Neither did the Hitomians." Riddick inserted.

Rakka rubbed her eyes. "Riddick, I'm going to bed. It's not good for me or the baby to be up this late and I'm tired of this shit. So I'm going to bed and hope that you are gone in the morning."

"Not gonna happen."

"You can sleep in here. I have a bed in the other bedroom." She turned to open the door. It happened so fast. When she had opened the door, his large hand appeared above her head and pushed it shut. A rough hand stroke the back of her neck and she could feel his hot breath stirring her hair.

"Get your hand off the door." Rakka said.

Two fingers slipped into the neck of her robe and hooked it. She felt the tug and she gripped her robe together with one hand while the other still gripped the doorknob.

"Get your hand off the door and stop the bullshit." Rakka snapped. "I'm seeing someone."

His hand froze and seized the back of her neck. Thick fingers dug into her skin and she was yank back forced to look at him. "Who?"

"Who do you think?" She gasped. "Twenty-Two."

"Twenty-Two? What? You don't know his real name?"

Rakka couldn't reply. Her neck was released and she slung the door open and stalked out with Riddick's chuckle in her ears.


	28. Hurt Me

Rakka awoke in the second bedroom. She groggily sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. At first she was disoriented, being so use to waking up in the other bedroom, then she remembered last night. She groaned and she placed her face into her hands.

Was Riddick still here? Maybe he wised up and left. She glanced over at the com, no saved messages. Twenty-Two didn't call back. Where was he?

She checked the clock, it was 8:20. She'll wait until 9:00 to call again. She felt lurched in her belly, and she leapt from the bed and made it in time to the bathroom to vomit. When she was through, she wiped her mouth with toilet paper and flushed the toilet.

She heard water running. She listened for a few moments and realized it was the shower from the main bedroom. She groaned again; he hadn't left at all. She leaned her head back and thought, _"What am I going to do…?"_

She felt her stomach growl and decided to act as if he wasn't there. She pulled on an over shirt with sweat pants and pulled on some large socks. She went downstairs to the kitchen.

She took out a case of eggs and bacon from the cooling unit. She set a skillet onto the stove and turned it on. Eggs and bacon for Riddick…..why the hell was she cooking him breakfast? She almost put the eggs and bacon back into the fridge, then she pause. Then she set the eggs and bacon onto the counter and began cooking Riddick's breakfast.

Why the hell not? Feed him and send him out the door. She was in a good mood, she even felt good. The aroma of sizzling eggs and bacon made her very hungry. As soon as a piece of bacon was done and cool enough to touch, she ate it with relish.

She heard movement and looked up to see Riddick entered the kitchen. There was a sweet smell of soap from his skin, mixed with a musky tint that never failed to arouse her.

"I made you breakfast." Rakka announced as she scooped the eggs and bacon onto a plate.

"I already ate." Riddick replied. He took a quick glance out the window.

"When?" She asked, feeling turned down.

"Before you woke up." Riddick replied.

"But….everything was clean when I came down…."

"I know how to wash dishes." Riddick said sarcastically.

She felt hot tears well in her eyes. Why was he being so mean? Didn't he know she was just trying to do something nice for him? Did he know that she was PREGNANT with HIS baby?

"FUCK YOU!" She screamed. She slammed the plate onto the counter nearly shattering it. "FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU!"

Riddick stared at her, obviously for once, caught off guard by her.

"I WAS JUST TRYING TO DO SOMETHING NICE FOR YOU, BUT YOU GODDAMN THROW IT BACK IN MY FACE!" She screamed.

"Stop screaming!" Riddick hissed.

"I'LL FUCKING SCREAM IF I FUCKING WANT!" She took up the plate and began scraping its contents into the garbage with a fork. It made a high pitch screeching sound as the metal raked the glass which hurt her ears and irritated her more. "THIS IS **MY **HOUSE AND I'LL SCREAM IF I WANT!"

Riddick began approaching her and she threw the plate at him. He dodged it easily and it shattered against the far wall. He caught her upper arm and she swung to slap him with her other hand. He easily caught her arm and spun her around, clasping her from behind to his chest. She kicked and screamed, but he held her restrained against him.

She tired from struggled against his steel like grip, Riddick put his mouth close to her ear and said, "I'm gonna let you go. You calm your ass down. You throw something at me again, and I will put your ass out on the floor, pregnant or not."

She felt her rage ebb away and emerge as something new. She felt aroused at being pressed against his body and his thick arms around her. "Riddick….do you wanna….fuck?"

Riddick released her and stepped back. "One fucking second you want to kill me and now you want to fuck me?"

"Yeah?" She turned to him reaching out to touch him. Why not? He wanted to last night. She couldn't remember a time when he wasn't willing. He stepped back out of reach of her hand. Rakka felt her emotions lunge into deeper and hurtful status.

"What? You don't find me attractive anymore?" She whimpered. "You wish I was Io….or someone else? Noa thought I'm attractive….Toombs thinks that I'm attractive. Twenty-Two likes me…."

She buried her face into her hands and sobbed. What was wrong with her? Screaming bloody murder at him, horny enough to jump his bones, and now she's so sad.

"Rakka." Riddick said in a soft voice which was a purr for his gravelly tone. "Go upstairs and take a bath. Soak for twenty minutes and relax. I'll come up later. If you still want me….I'll come in. You don't want me, then I'll stay away."

Rakka nodded and rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry, I am so sorry."

She left the kitchen trembling and went upstairs. How could she have acted that way? Sure, Riddick had pushed her buttons before, but….she never reacted so….violently. It took Riddick completely off guard. She heard of mood swings, but she couldn't believe that they could just come and go at a drop of a hat.

She went into the large bedroom's bathroom. She headed to the deep tub carved into the floor. She turned on the water and poured bath bubble liquid and beads into the gushing water. It had a lavender scent that soothed the ach in her head and heart. She undressed and slid into the soapy water. It felt so good and the heat soothed her.

She turned to the settings aligned on the side of the tub and twisted the dial to heater and bubbles. Massaging jets of rushing water massaged her muscles. She leaned her head back and looked forward to Riddick coming.

She looked down at her hands as she gathered the bubbles between them without thought. So she was back to where she was: wanting, loving, and hating Riddick. Was she in love with him? She didn't know, she never had such emotions before. She liked Twenty-Two and she wanted it to grow into something more. Where the hell was he? Why didn't he call yet?  
The baby….she placed her hands on her belly which she did whenever she thought of it. How does Riddick feel about it? He seemed angry, but more with her than with the baby. He hadn't said anything about what he was going to do about the baby. So far abortion hadn't been mentioned and he hadn't said anything about staying with her.

Did she want him around? No….his life was too dangerous for her and the baby. Was he wanting to take her with him? No, she didn't think so. He wasn't like that. He didn't love her or want her. He was just here for a hide out, meals, and a few fucks. She hugged herself and shivered despite the warm around her.

What was going to happen now? To her, Riddick, and the baby?

There was a knock at the door. Riddick. She lifted her head and said, "Come in."

Riddick stepped through the door and shut it behind him. She set up as he stripped off his shirt. Her eyes devour the masculine chest and muscles that was lined with caramel smooth skin. She felt her heat rise as he began unbuckling his pants.

God, she was possibly living out a paperback novel romance. Young woman in a beautiful porcelain tub filled with sweet smelling water about to fuck with a man so handsome and roguish that he could break hearts just by smiling. She drank in his body as he slipped into the tub with her, wearing nothing, but his goggles.

"Riddick, take off your goggles." She said softly as she parted through bubbles to touch his cheek. He settled into the water and she was kneeling between his legs, her hand on his shoulder support her weight.

He drew her face close by cupping the back of her head. "We'll have to turn the lights off."

Rakka leaned back to the control panel and dimmed the overhead lights. The light dimmed and her eyes adjusted to the change of light enough to see Riddick removing his goggles and setting them on the edge of the tub. His silvered orb eyes almost glowed.

She slide through the water to slide her arms about his shoulders and kissed him deeply. His large, hard hands slide up her wet back to cup her shoulders and drew her close to him. Her breasts crushed against his chest as their tongues lashed against each other.

Her hand slid up his neck and caressed his shone scalp. Tiny stubbles brushed at her finger tips, it felt as if he had recently shaved it. Riddick leaned back from her lips and into her hand. His tongue traced her bottom lip, before taking it between his teeth and gently sucking on it. She spread her legs to place them around his waist, her knees pressed against the hard side of the tub.

His mouth left hers and traveled down her jaw to her pulse. She leaned her head upward giving him full room of her throat. Her fingers dug into his shoulder and neck. If only he was like this each and every time they had sex. Not just stripping her clothes off, unbuckling his pants, and penetrating her.

His face lowered to her chest and he lifted her up to match his height. She stood up on her knees as his teeth, lips, and tongue stroked her skin and touched her nipples. The tug of his lips on her nipple was simply sweet and she arched her back. His hands slide down and cupped her bottom and spread her legs.

She allowed him to part her body and she reached down to take hold of him and guide him inside. She closed her eyes, one hand on Riddick's shoulder and the other at his side. He lowered her slowly onto him and she slowly took him in. His heat felt so warm and so good. It filled her and her lips trembled from the surge of arousal.

He drew her close and began to move within her. The water sloshed against their bodies. She looked into Riddick's eyes and he looked into hers. Riddick's gaze was animal, pure lust, as if there was something he wanted to do, but he was restraining himself from doing it. Because she could easily break? Or because she was pregnant? No, she had seen that gaze before, each time he took her, there was a part….a deeper more animal part he had hidden from her….to protect her or keep her from screaming in terror? She didn't know which.

She felt animal….she wanted it. She wanted that part of him. She needed that part. She had to know, had to experience the animal, beast, and the dark side who was her baby's father. She wanted the dark Riddick. That being that lurked beneath the silvery eyes, primal and hungry for blood, fight, and sex.

She could break, she could scream, cry, and possibly even die…..right then…all that matter was the sex.

He released inside her and she shortly followed, yet she wasn't satisfied. Not yet. Riddick allowed her to lie against his chest, her breathing deep and shallow. She kissed his jaw and whispered in a soft voice, throaty with exhaustion and lust and fear, she said, "Hurt me."

He shifted back to look her in the face. He titled his head, his silver eyes on her face. "Be careful what you ask for."

She swallowed and slid her hands up his shoulders. "What's wrong, Riddick? You balking at something I know you've been wanting to do? I know what you wanted….I didn't know at first, blame it on my ignorance or inexperience, but I do now. You want to fuck my brains out; you want to unleash that beast you have lurking behind your eyes on me." She slid her hands up his neck to press her palms to his hard cheeks. "You want you to take me in every way you can. I know it, I've felt it, even seen it sometimes in your eyes. You're always gauging me, wondering if I could take it."

His hands were at her ribs as if feeling at all vulnerable she was. "You remembered what happened….on Echo." She knew he was referring to when he almost raped her in the bathroom. She nodded. "It'll be like that and more."

"I don't care."

"You will."

"Do you not want to….?"

His hands tightened on her sides. "Honey, the only thing keeping me from doing it do you now is that I don't think you can handle it." He pulled her close, arms around her waist, his face close to hers. "Once I start…I won't stop until I'm through. You'll have to trust me with whatever I do to you….do you trust me?"

She swallowed. Did she trust Riddick? The man had tried to abandoned her twice, _sold _her to pimps, treated her horribly, used her, and left her for another woman. Did she trust him?

"Riddick, there's a lot of things I don't trust you with, but…I believe when it comes to something like this….I trust you."

"Really?" He cocked his head as if he didn't believe her.

"Do you not trust me to know whether or not I can handle it?"

"The baby…."

"Will be fine. You aren't planning on cutting me or smashing a sledgehammer into my ribs, are you?"

"I'm not into that." Riddick replied. He reached over and took up the goggles. "What about Twenty-Two…?"

"I…don't want to think about him now." Rakka replied. "You do something to me, Riddick….something I can't explain."

He placed his goggles over his head and on his eyes. He looked so dangerous with them on. He touched her lips and trailed his rough fingers down her chin till he wrapped them around her throat. He didn't squeeze, but he applied enough pressure to make her grab his wrist.

He leaned forward, his nose touching hers. "Once we start, you get one way out. Once you use it….we stop. We don't pick up, we don't continue, it's over, no more. You get to use the safety word once."

"Safety word?"

"A word you say to get me to stop. You say it and I'll stop. But you better make sure you want to use it, because I won't continue after you say it. Use it only if you don't think you can take anymore or handle it. I won't ease up or stop unless you use it."

"What's the safety word?"

"Jack."

"Just Jack?"

"Yeah. Use it. It'll get my attention."

"Oh." She wanted to ask why the name Jack would grab his attention enough to withhold the beast…but she didn't want to disrupt the mood.

He pushed her back enough for him to stand in the water. She watched him get out of the tub and dry off with a towel from a nearby rack. As he pull on his pants, she thought he had changed his mind then he turned over his shoulder and said, "Tonight."

She watched him grab his shirt and leave. She flipped the switch that drained the water into a small hole in the bottom of the tub and remembered her date tonight with Twenty-Two. Have a nice date with a sweet man who likes to be known by a number or have rough hard sex with a man so sexy he'd put ancient Greek sculptures to shame?

She would have to call and cancel the date. That is if she could get in touch with him. She slipped into a robe and headed into the bedroom. Maybe she'll get out the easy way and Twenty-Two will have to cancel to work. She went to the com and picked it up….it was dead, no dial tone at all. She eyed it suspiciously before he put it down in its cradle.

She headed downstairs to the living room where Riddick was watching a news report on the vid. "What did you do to the coms?"

"I cut them after you went to bed." Riddick said as if he was telling her he took out the trash.

"Why?"

Riddick looked at her. "Why, to keep the com from beepin' and wakin' you up."

She flipped him off and headed into the kitchen to fix herself a small breakfast. She wasn't in the mood to fry anymore bacon and eggs so she settled for cold cereal. As she sat at the counter munching on milk soaked wheaties she pondered about herself.

Was she back where she was with Riddick now? Lusting after him and wanting him and….loving him? Did she really love him? No, she didn't….did she? She never felt this way about anyone before. Did she feel this way because Riddick was her first and only? She didn't know.

What about Twenty-Two? She just about cheated him this morning. What the hell is wrong with her? Blaming her mood swings and pregnancy wouldn't cut it. She glanced over to where the plate she threw at Riddick had shattered and was surprise to see that the broken pieces were gone. She stood and glanced into the garbage and saw the pieces lying in the bottom. Riddick must have cleaned it up before he went upstairs to her. Funny, she couldn't picture him handling a broom and dustpan.

What about the baby? What was Riddick planning on doing now? What about her future? What was going to happen?

She was so overwhelmed with questions that she didn't hear Riddick calling her, until he stood at the kitchen doorway.

"Rakka, did ya hear me?"

She looked up startled. "What?"

"Com' here." He turned and walked into the living room.

Rakka didn't feel like getting up and leaving her meal to answer his summons. "Just tell me what you want!"

"Get in here!"  
"What! What is it?" She pushed herself from her chair nearly spilling her cereal bowl. "What is damn important you can't tell me?"

She stormed into the living room where Riddick was sitting on the couch with a remote in his hand. He looked at her and said, "Look."

He began flipping channels on the vid. One after another. She crossed her arms and glared at the screen. News report, shopping channel, soap opera, a game show, several cartoons, and several talk shows flipped across the screen. She didn't see anything unusual.

"So? It's called a vid. It shows vids shows that you watch and have fun with." She said in a slow voice as if she was speaking to a child. She was about to say that the people on the screen lived inside vid to perform, but Riddick gave her a dark look. She couldn't see his eyes, but she could feel it.

"I ghosted 15 guys bustin' out of the facility and I'm the number one dangerous criminal in all the systems top ten wanted lists and they don't have one news report about me. Fuck, I don't think that there's even a police patrol even out lookin' for me."

Rakka stared at him. She had thought that something was missing, but she hadn't known what it was. "Could they have given up the search and not cause a panic?"

"No. I've done this before. They would be knocking on every door in this colony huntin' me. They would have my picture flashing on every channel and giving out a list of fuckers I killed. Here, I ain't seen much as my name on the vid."

Rakka felt a chill shiver down her back. "Do you think they are covering it up?"

"Yeah….somebody don't want anybody to know I'm here."

"But surely they would be out looking for you."  
"Unless…..they already know where I am."

Rakka felt numb throughout her body. "Riddick…."

"Who gave you the house?"

"Adam Chillingsworth…."

He stood and left the room. She followed him and saw that he was going upstairs. She almost had to jog up the stairs and trot after him to the main bedroom's bathroom, where they had been together. He stalked across the room to the bathroom mirror which spanned from wall to wall.

He picked up a blow drier. "Stand back."

She took three large steps back and watched him smash the blow drier into the glass. She winced as it shattered and fell onto the counter and sink. Riddick stared at something where the glass used to be. She looked and she gasped and felt her blood chill in her veins. A tiny camera was attached the wall behind the glass.

* * *

She huddled on her bed listening to Riddick searching for more cameras throughout the house. She heard glass shatter in the next room, shattered as she felt her life and future had been. 

After Riddick smashed the one in the bathroom he had began searching the bedroom for more camera. He found one in the mirror on her vanity and inside a small decoration on the wardrobe disguise as a flower. He smashed those and told her to wait there until he came back.

For the past week, she had been watched. For the past week Adam Chillingsworth and god knows how many others have seen her cry, worry, bathe naked, dressed, change, sleep, and god knows what else she did without knowing she was being watched. Someone had watched her sessions with Dr. Fara and watch her with Riddick in the tub. Oh, god, what if someone sells that footage as porn?

What was going to happen now? What was Riddick going to do? What did Chillingsworth actually have planned for her?

* * *

"Sir, he found the cameras."

The old man looked at the younger man in the white and gold trench coat. "How many did he find?"

Junner stood a few feet away from the over chair where Chillingsworth sat, sipping wine and watching a vid. On the vid were Rakka and Riddick in the tub in the middle of intercourse.

"13 so far, but given his background, it won't be long before he finds them all."

"Hmmm….now I believe I see what my daughter saw in him." Adam Chillingsworth said, stroking his chin, his aged old eyes watching the vid. "He is a remarkable man. A breed like him doesn't come often."

Junner had no comment.

Adam Chillingsworth glanced at Junner. "I do believe that you were quite jealous of the attention my daughter, Katherine, bestowed upon Riddick before her death?"

"I was merely her bodyguard and servant, sir." Junner replied.

Adam Chillingsworth chuckled and said, "Don't think I don't know about the liaisons between you and Katherine. I know of everything you two did together."

There was only a flicker of emotion on Junner's face. Only a flicker. "Did you disapprove, sir?"

Adam Chillingsworth shrugged. "I must say as a father seeing his only child with a man isn't something I like to dwell upon….but she was an intelligent woman who knew her mind and her body. I trusted her with herself."

"What do wish to be done about them?" Junner asked.

"I believe I'll have to step up my plans, but that would mean I would have hurry up with what way I want Rakka mounted. Do you know what her name means in a very ancient language called Japanese?"

"No sir."

"It means to fall. She's like an angel fallen from Heaven as punishment for lusting for the Devil's flesh." Adam Chillingsworth mused as he watched the vid automatically rewind at the end of the recording to the beginning where Riddick was entering the tub. "Wouldn't it be poetic if I had them mounted together in the position of sexual ecstasy?"

"Perhaps." Junner said.

"I see. You would rather kill Riddick?"

"If I may be so bold as to say yes?"

Adam Chillingsworth thought and said, "Alright, I'll give you your chance. You are the one of strongest and most skill men I know of. The only time you have ever failed my family was in defeating Riddick in combat. I will give you your chance for redemption. If you are able to kill Riddick, then he is unworthy of being apart of my Gallery."

"I understand, sir."

"Rakka, I'm afraid would have to spend the next centuries alone on her pedestal alone. Would you weep for her?"

"No."

"Do you believe she would weep?"

"Perhaps."

"Yes….I see it….her position. I will have her arrange curl on her side on the floor as if she had had a great fall from high above. Her face looking upward at Heaven beseeching forgiveness, but knowing that she does it in despair….That's what I will call her statue….Despair. I believe that there was a fallen angel in an ancient book from Earth. Paradise Lost, I believe it was called. The story of how Lucifer turned on God and was cast out from Heaven."

"And he became the Devil." Junner inserted.

"Ah, my daughter chose you well. You read the ancient tomes?"

"At times, sir."

"Do you think our little angel, Rakka, is capable of becoming a devil?"

"Anybody is capable of becoming a devil, sir."

"How so?"  
"Anybody can pick up a knife and slit someone's throat. Even a three year old."

"Is that how you killed your stepfather? After he beat your mother to death, you toddled into the kitchen, climbed onto a stool, slid a knife from a knife holder, and toddled into the bedroom where he was passed out drunk and slit his throat?"

"I believe so sir."

"Your first kill?"

"Yes sir."

"Do you remember how it felt?"

"It was quite liberating, sir."

"I see."

Chillingsworth stroked his chin. "It seems that Project 22 had been giving our researchers plenty of data regarding human emotion and physical contact."

"Yes sir, they want to continue the interactions between Project 22 and Laotaner. Unfortunately, under the present circumstances, that may not be possible."

"It would be valuable data, but unfortunately it would have to be continued by a different female. I do wonder, however, how would Riddick fare against Project 22?"

"Sir?"

"Oh, you will get your chance at killing Riddick, I promise you that…..but if he manages to kill you….yes….I want to see how strong a devil Riddick is…..Ah….the age old battle….Nature vs. Science."

* * *

Rakka must have dozed off, for that she was jerked into reality by Riddick entering the room. He dropped more than a dozen mini camera smashed or crushed onto the floor. 

"Did Twenty-Two ever tell you who he worked for?"

"What?"

"Twenty-Two? Who he worked for and what does he do?"

"I…he….He would not have known about this!" Rakka said heatedly.

Riddick walked to the bed and leaned forward, placing his hands palm down on the covers, his upper body hover over her. "Who. Did. He. Work. For?"

"Chillingsworth…But….!"

"Then he knew about this shit."

"NO!"

"Goddammit! You are so stupid!" He jerked away from the bed in disgust.

"Don't call me that!" She swung over the bed to stand. "I am really scared right now and I don't need you bad mouthing me!"

"Who's the dumb fuck who accepted a house from the fucker that helped peg a 50 mil bounty on your ass? Sic an ass load of mercs on your ass?"

"Shut up, Riddick!" Rakka yelled. "I feel bad enough about it, so shut the fuck up!"

"Jesus! You have no fuckin' idea of how deep you are in! Chillingsworth collects people. His psychopath bitch of a daughter was ready to freeze my ass into a statue!"

"Before or after you killed twenty mercs after you popped out of a foam bubble?" Rakka snapped. There was moment of silence and Rakka wanted to kick herself.

"How do you know about that?" Riddick said in a voice that sent chills down her spine.

It was no use saying it was nothing or trying to feign it as a joke. "I saw a recording of you creating a huge bubble of foam inside a hangar. Some mercs surrounded your skiff and you killed them."

"Where did you see it?"

"Chillingsworth showed it to me during dinner."

"You had dinner with him?"

"That's what I just said, didn't I?"

"He played you."

"You don't think I haven't realized that! But why?"

"Usually I would say to get me, but….I think he wants you."

"But why?"

"I just got here."

"What are we going to do?"

"I know what I'm going to do." Riddick walked to her and placed his palm across her mouth and pinched her nose close with his thumb. His other hand held one of her shoulders firmly.

For a second, she thought he was teasing her or trying to make her mad. She glared at his and made to swing her head away, but his hand follow with his fingers tightening on her face. She backed away till her back was to the wall and Riddick followed and pressed her head against wall, his hand still smothering her.

Her hands clawed at his over her mouth and her feet kicking at his boots. Riddick easily caught her hands with his other and held them tightly in a firm grip. Her muffled screamed had no affect upon him and he leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. His breath on her face seemed to mock her struggles to get air.

_My baby….Riddick…stop…what about the baby? Please…don't kill the baby…Riddick…Rid…dick…Riddick………………_

* * *

Junner's com from within his trench coat began beeping. He frowned and answered it. "Report." 

He listened to a frantic voice for a few moments and then said, "Move in! Move in! Kill Riddick if you have to, but ensure that target, Laotaner, is not harmed."

Chillingsworth twisted in his seat. "Junner, what is going on!"

"One of the cameras report that Riddick is assaulting Rakka Laotaner."

"Bring it up on the vid." Chillingsworth commanded as he swung back to the large vid.

Junner took a small control from his inner pocket and touched a few buttons. The vid change from Riddick and Rakka having sex to Riddick smothering Rakka. The view was from the floor facing upward to see Riddick holding his hand over Rakka's mouth and nose and pinned against a wall.

"Clever. Very clever." Chillingsworth said softly leaning forward. "So the pawn forces the king to make his move by attacking the queen, eh? Very clever…I am beginning to actually like my daughter's murderer."

* * *

Her lungs felt as if they could explode. Her eyes burn and her throat hungered for air. Her eyesight was going dark and soon the only then she could sensed was pain in her body and Riddick's brow pressed against hers; his warm breath on her face. 

Riddick turned his head from hers and watch as men wearing armored suits and bearing arms crashed through the glass windows and charged into the room. He released Rakka who crumbled to the floor gasping for air. He placed his hands on his head as he was commanded by the men who aimed their guns at his head.

Cuffs were slapped onto his wrists and he was led downstairs with multiple guns pointed at his head. Rakka was carried down the stairs by a man who placed his gun in the holster. She was still gulping for air and cursing Riddick at the same time.

"I'll kill that son of a bitch…..he tried to….kill me and the baby….I hate….him….you should all shoot him….now….please, shoot him….."

Riddick was guided into the back of a large hover van were he was strapped to the wall with metallic restraints. A thick bit was shoved between his teeth and noose like wire tighten around his throat.

"You try anything and this will cut your head off." A man sneered into Riddick face and he gave him a slap-pat on the shoulder.

Riddick gave no response and watched as Rakka was carried inside and was placed on a narrow cot along the other side of the van. Rakka had managed to catch her breath and with one of the men's urgings she was taking slow and deep breaths. Her blue-violet eyes glared death at Riddick as the armored hover van trailed down the street together the facility.

* * *


	29. Fall

When the hover pulled into the shed in the facility, Rakka was led one way and Riddick was taken another. Rakka was taken down several hallways by several armored men and she was expecting to be taken to see a doctor.

They halted beside a door with a key code lock. A soldier typed a code into the keypad and it opened. It resembled a small cell with a cot with padding and a toilet.

"Get in."

"What?"

"Get in!"

She was shoved roughly inside and the door slide shut behind her. She turned and slapped the door. "Hey! What are you doing? Let me out!"

She heard them walk away, their boots echoing on the metal floor. She pressed her forehead against the cool metal and sighed. She was back in it all again. Being hunted, wanted, used, and hurt. Was Twenty-Two in on this? Was he somewhere silently laughing at her?

She knew Riddick was laughing at her….where ever they took him. She was still taking deep breaths taking in the air that had taken for granted. If there was any serious damage done to her child….Riddick was going to wish he never met her. She was surprise that she meant it, she would seriously try to hurt Riddick in anyway she could if he harmed her baby.

* * *

It was hours before they came back. She had lain down on the cot and as comfortable as she could on the stiff padding and had dozed off. She was awoken by loud hiss of the door opening. She sat up to see three men enter. Their presence filled the small room. A man with a buzz hair cut and scar across one cheek stepped forward holding a white bundle which resembled clothes.

"Chillingsworth wants you in this." He held it out and she saw it was a white tunic.

She got up and said, "I'm not doing anything until Chillingsworth comes here and tells me what the hell he wants with me."

"Chillingsworth wants to see you, but ya gotta wear this." He shoved them into her hands.

She looked at the bundle and shook her head. It was a single white sheet with a large hole and a gold cord. "No, no, I am not putting this on. If he wants me to change, I will, but I'm wearing something more than just this."

She moved as if to give it back, but she was seized by the front of her sweat shirt. The man gripped it with both hands as if to rip it off. She dropped the silk and cord to grasp at his hands.

"Lissen, princess, you either wear what we give or ya gonna wear nothing at all, which is just fine by us."

"FINE! Let go! I'll change, I'll fucking change!" She yelled. "Get out and give me ten minutes."

"You got five." The man released her by shoving her back.

He motioned for his comrades to leave to cell and the door slide sharply shut behind them. She swallowed and began to undress quickly. It took her a few minutes to figure out the tunic or it could be called a toga. It was a single sheet with a hole for her head and to be cut low enough to almost reveal her breasts. The skirt hung low to her mid-calves. She tugged it up and it gapped to reveal the valley between her breasts, the gap trailed down to almost reveal her navel. Another thing she hated was that there were slits along the sides almost up to her hips and the only thing keeping it together was the single gold cord which she tied around her waist. No matter how she tucked it or wrapped it, it still had her hips bare and there was NO underwear.

_"I look as if I'm in costume for a porno flick." _Rakka thought as she slipped into the sweat pants to at least cover her lower body.

The door slid open and the men entered. The one who had forced the clothes on her said, "Pants off."

"Excuse me?"  
"No pants. Chillingsworth wants you in that and nothing else."

"You didn't give me any damn underwear! I am not walking around half naked! What the fucking hell does he have planned for me that I have to dress like I'm about to walked onto a porno set?"  
"Take the damn pants off and we'll take you to Chillingsworth and then you can ask him." He stepped close to her and looked down. "Now take the damn pants off or I'll take them off."

She hugged herself, her arms folded beneath her breasts. "Alright….alright…"

She kept her eyes on them and she pushed the pants down her legs. She felt anger rush down her back and arms as one whistled through his teeth.

"Maybe Chillingsworth won't mind….." One said.

The leader cut him off. "Junner said that if we touch her it'll come out of our pay and our asses."

* * *

Somewhere, not too far away, Riddick was feeling a familiar sting at his neck as a small explosive was implanted into his flesh. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, it was gonna be one of those days.

"You try anything stupid and you're gonna be missing a head." A voice hissed in his ear.

His gurney was wheeled into a dinning hall. It was large with an enormous thick glass window giving a view of empty space dotted with stars and the colony down below. Riddick arched his eyebrow, so the facility was actually a ship that can easily attach and detach from the colony. Definitely top notch technology.

"Release him." A very familiar voice said.

Riddick felt the release catches free his trapped limbs and the bit loosen in his mouth enough for him to spit it out. His neck still stung from the implanted explosive, but it something he barely noticed now. He stepped onto the floor off the gurney and glanced over his shoulder at the armed men. They stiffen their arms aiming their guns in fear…..he liked that.

"Welcome to Chillingsworth's dinning hall." Junner said stepping into view.

A look of surprise and recognition barely flashed across Riddick's face. "How's the eye?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Junner's lips and he pushed his green glasses up the bridge of his nose. A jagged scar was slashed down across his left eye and in the center where his eye had been was a metallic disk with a red glowing orb in the center.

Riddick whistled. "Damn, I did a number on you."

"The surgery took 6 hours to perform. I wouldn't allow them to make me sleep. I stayed awake and conscious throughout every second. And I thought of you as they poked and scraped inside my eye socket."

"Can't say I'm flattered." Riddick replied. "I take it you want a rematch?"

"Yes, but not now. Chillingsworth requests that you have a last meal." Junner dropped his glasses over his eyes. "Follow me."

Junner turned headed down the hall. Riddick followed eyeing his exposed back. Junner looked at Riddick over his shoulder and said, "I forgot to mention that I have a detonator. To what, I believe you already know."

"Feels like old times. Am I gonna be frozen and put onna pedestal?"

"No, not you."

Riddick paused only a second and said, "Rakka. So…what's so damn special about her that old man Chillingsworth wants to put her onna mount for?"

"I believe you'll find out soon enough."

"No, let me guess. She's the long lost princess and the last survivin' member o the Royal family of the Hitomian race and on top of that she's got purple eyes makin' her a Blessed kid, and there's this shit going around how she's gonna give birth to some saint or shit."

Junner stopped, but didn't turn around. Riddick stepped up close behind him and said, "I like to know a thing or two about the women I fuck."

"This way." Junner stepped away signal to a door and typed in a few keys and slide open. A huge extravagant table already set and an old man seated at the head.

A second door open and Rakka was guided inside wearing a very scanty tunic. She kept her arms crossed over her chest and she looked as if she was going to sit on the floor to better cover herself better. Riddick walked inside and the door slide shut behind him, Junner planted himself in the far corner of the room.

"I see both of my guest are here." Chillingsworth said cheerfully. "Please, have a seat. Our meals have already been served and cut. I don't believe it's wise to allow you to have anything sharp, Mr. Riddick."

"I gotta agree with that." Riddick said as he took a seat.

Rakka hesitated before she took her seat across from Riddick.

"How do you like the tunic, Miss Laotaner. I preserved it from a long and forgotten time. It's possibly what slave girls wore for old Egyptian kings."

"I don't like it." Rakka said heatedly.

"Better get comfortable, you'll be wearing that for a long time." Riddick said as he took a sip of wine.

Rakka glared at him. "I wasn't fucking talk to you."

"Now, now." Chillingsworth said in a scolding tone. "If we cannot be civil at the table, I'll have to cut our meal short."

"Civil? Civil? Putting cameras inside a home you give to someone and watching everything they do is civil? You lied to me! I don't know what sick thing you are up to, but it fucking stops now." Rakka felt close to tears, but she will not cry, she will not cry. "If you want Riddick, then there he is! Put him in a Slam or kill him or freeze him into art, I don't care. You take me to Haven and leave me alone. I am going to have a baby and I don't need motherfucking bullshit!"

"I am afraid that I cannot do that." Chillingsworth folded his hands on the table. "I want _you_ for my Gallery. You are going you make a beautiful piece of artwork."  
Rakka's face blanched almost white. "You are not talking about….no, you can't do that."

"I have a position and mount prepared for you within my gallery, all it needs is you."

"My baby…."

"You'll still have your baby, but I'm afraid that it'll die within you during the freezing process."

"Why me? Why do you want to do this to me?"

"Because I want to and I can." Chillingsworth regarded her with green eyes and turned to Riddick. "Enough about you, so Mr. Riddick, tell me….how did it feel killing my daughter, my only child?"

"I don't know. I didn't do it." Riddick replied taking a small bite of rare steak from his fingers.

"Come, come, now." Chillingsworth leaned forward, his elbows on the table and his chin supported on one hand, as if he was bored, but his sharp eyes were intently on Riddick. "No need to deny anything of the sort. I know you killed her."

"I watched her die, but I didn't kill her. It wasn't my finger on the trigger."

Something twitched beneath Chillingworth's eye, but he smiled. "You can continue to lie about it, but I still know the truth."

"You are not going to make me into a display!" Rakka blurted out who had gotten over her first shock at Chillingsworth's plans for her.

"Again, this conversation." Chillingsworth sighed and turned to her. "Rakka, you must understand what a rarity you are."

"I have blue-violet eyes! Okay, I am rare, but there's little girl on Echo with the same eye color! I am sure that somewhere out there in the universe there has got to be at least a hundred others out there. Freeze them!"  
"I see that you are unaware of….." Chillingsworth tapped his chin in thought. "Never mind, I do know of the child on Echo, Sunna Liika. I heard of all the things that happened to the Liika Family and my one of my…..attendants, Chural Kunas. I heard of the actions on Echo and I'm afraid that I could no longer have myself nor my assets affiliated with him. I had him….disposed off by my Gardener."

"You're talkin' about Twenty-Two. He said he kills special kinds of weeds. He's an assassin, isn't he?" Riddick murmured.

"Oh, he's more than that, much, much more."

"Where is he?" Rakka asked.

"Somewhere. I'm sure you'll see him soon before you're mounted."

"Riddick, do something!" Rakka yelled standing. She felt scared, panic, and angry.

"Do what?"

"Something, anything! You got me into this!"

"You took the house, I wasn't around for that."

"YOU took me off Haven! YOU took me to Echo! YOU knocked me up! YOU led mercs to me! YOU barged back into my life! YOU tried to kill me and landed us here! Now YOU are going fix this!"  
"All that shit ain't my fault!" Riddick returned.

"But you caused most of it! You should have left me alone on Haven!"

"If it wasn't for me, you'd be in some Slam with the inmates pulling a train on you."

"Not that you care!"

"You're right, I don't fuckin' care."

"Then stay away from me!"

"If I fuckin' could I would be walkin' out the door now!"  
"What's stopping you? Want me to open it for you? Be your good little bitch one last time?"

"That's nice, bitch, but I got a tick in my skin set to blow my head off."

"Where's the detonator and I'll get it out with a bang!"

"You like getting banged, bitch. Hey, Chillingsworth be sure to position her on her back. That's her favorite position."

"I wish I never slept with you! I wish you weren't my baby's father!"

"You can wish one hand and sh…"

"Enough!" Chillingsworth said standing shoving his grand chair back and upsetting his wineglass. "I am afraid that I must end your lover's quarrel. The gallery is waiting. I want to give you a tour."

"Shit." Riddick murmured.

* * *

The Gallery was huge. Several statues lined the walls and dotted the floor. Their bodies were twisting in unusual positions that looked very much uncomfortable. They were all beautiful in their nudity and they had a certain grotesque elegance about them.

They were surrounded by many men bearing guns all aimed at Riddick's head. Chillingsworth led the tour holding his arms out. "My daughter, as you may recall, Mr. Riddick, was a collector of the universe's greatest killers, I myself am more down to earth as you might say. I prefer rarity over murderers. These people you see before you are rare among their race or last of their kind."

Rakka stared at the blue statue of a large nude man. Luckily he was in a position where his genitals wasn't fully exposed and was hard to see. She looked at the plaque at his bare feet and it read KILLER OF MEN: FURYAN. His body was positioned as if he was going to lunge forward and attack. His muscles bulged and his mouth was open in an angry yell as if he was enraged.

"I recognize this." Riddick said stepping forward beside her. It was where he first discovered the word, Furyan.

"Yes, I would believe so. He came from my daughter's private collection. After her death, I acquired it for my own."

"He ain't the last Furyan." Riddick replied. "I'm still here."

"Oh, but I'm sure he will be the last after today." Chillingsworth replied coolly.

_Why were they talking about this statue as if it was a real person? _She tentatively lifted a hand and looked at Chillingsworth.

"Go ahead, my dear. I don't mind and I'm sure that he won't."

Rakka stared at him confused and touched the statue's cheek. It felt very cool and unusually soft. She applied a little pressure and the blue skin indented as normal skin would. It was smooth, and though cool felt good to touch. She trailed her fingers toward the lips and yelped when they twitched.

"What? He…moved!"

Riddick murmured softly. "He's real, Rakka. He's a real person frozen and he's still alive."

"What? How?" Her fingers tingled as shivers lanced up her spine.

"A special cryo designed to shut down their bodies, but keeps their minds open and alive." Chillingsworth said.

"But he MOVED!"

"Yes, unfortunately, it isn't perfect. They are able to move, but very, very slowly. A blink of the eyes is a day's work and that twitch must have taken all his strength to perform. Over time, they can move out of position, so I occasionally walk through the Gallery and have my assistants aligned them back into position whenever necessary. I've made some adjustments to the process, so hopefully I won't have the same problems with you, Rakka."

"Is he able to think?" Rakka asked staring at her fate.

"Oh, yes. His mind it alive as I said. He is very much aware of us and his surroundings. Come, would you like to see your pedestal?"

"No." It was slowly, yet surely sinking in what it would mean to be frozen into art.

"Come, come. You are going to see it. Now or later when we display you." Chillingsworth led the way toward the back of the Gallery. Rakka and Riddick were forced to follow. The frozen Furyan's eyes stayed with her. She had looked into his still eyes and saw….madness. If he was ever released what would happen? She did know that people would die if that ever happened.

"Is there a cure? Can you unfreeze them?" She had to ask.

"I could if I wanted, but it would result in instant death. All the test subjects died before the process was complete. It's permanent. The body never ages and who ever heard of a mind dying of old age?"

Rakka tried to imagine for a second of eternity, of constantly never moving, always seeing what is there before you. She could imagine boredom like no other, but then. . . she can see where the madness could begin. . . and ever end.

They finally came to a raised platform which was centered in the far back of the gallery. The plaque at the edge of the pedestal was titled: DESPAIR. The pedestal itself resembled cracked earth as if something had fallen from a great height and had impacted on the earth, forming an indention.

"The equipment hasn't been brought up yet, but as you can see, you'll be very comfortable here. I'll place you in the back so you can have a full view of the Gallery."

Rakka hugged herself and stared at what would be her home for the next several centuries if Chillingsworth had his way.

"Come, I believe now it is time to have entertainment. The next stop and last for Mr. Riddick is the arena."

* * *

Rakka and Riddick were lead by several men aiming their guns at Riddick's head. They were led out onto a balcony leaning outward over a large pit that reminded Rakka of an arena. Twin set of cushioned chairs were aligned at the edge of the balcony and Chillingsworth took his seat in one.

"Please, Miss Laotaner, sit down and watch the show."

"What show?" She asked as she was guided by the arm by a soldier to a chair. She sat down and smoothed the cloth of the tunic to cover her breasts the best she could.

"Just a couple of fights. I believe that Riddick will be one of gladiators and Junner his challenger."

"You're sick." Rakka swallowed. "You can't do this."

"I am doing it." Chillingsworth replied. "Please, be silent and enjoy the fight. Put him in."

Men moved to force Riddick into the pit, but Riddick simply walked forward to the edge of the balcony past Rakka's chair. He turned and looked at Chillingsworth. "If I get out of there alive, me and you are gonna tangle."

He jumped down. Rakka leaned forward expecting him to break his legs, but he landed into a roll onto the floor and practically bounced to his feet. Chillingsworth held out a hand and a servant who had been standing to the side of the balcony stepped forward and placed a curved blade into his hand.

He offered it out to Rakka handle first. "Would you care to give your gladiator his weapon?"

"No." She shook her head. "I will not play your games."

"Either you give it to him or he fights without it." Chillingsworth said heatedly. "All you have to do is throw it into the pit, nothing more."

"You throw it.'

"No, it would be more…appropriate if a woman throws it."

"How do you know I won't try to kill you with it?" A gun clicked near her ear.

Chillingsworth smiled. "I know you won't try to hurt me, my dear. I love my gallery, but I love living too, so I won't mind having one of my men plant a bullet in your pretty little head, though it would be sad loss for my gallery."

_Toombs had said something close to that. _

She curled her fingers around the handle and accepted it from him. She held it and looked at it. She didn't throw it, nor did she try to stab Chillingsworth. She held the point to her own throat instead.

Chillingsworth watched her stand holding the knife at her own throat. "What are you doing?"

"I rather die than be frozen into some statue for your damn gallery." Rakka said as she took several steps back toward the edge of the balcony which hung over the arena. If she didn't have the guts to slit her own throat, then at least she had the option of jumping to her death.

"As much as I enjoy theatrics, my dear, I really don't think I want you to do that now."

"I don't care about what you want." Rakka snapped. "I am caring about what I want. I want my baby and I want to return to Haven."

"My dear girl, do you think you can ever have those things? You've been tainted by him…..Where is he?"

All eyes went to the pit, but the large man wearing black goggles was gone.

"WHERE IS HE!" Chillingsworth got to his feet and glared at the men around him. "FIND HIM!"

Men started to move from balcony back inside the hallway which would take them to stairs leading downwards. A few stayed behind to watch the woman holding a knife. Chillingsworth reached into his robe for a detonator. "I believe that we will soon find out his whereabouts soon."

It happened so fast, that for the rest of her life Rakka would not be able to fully understand what happened in the space of ten seconds. A dark shadow appeared at the edge of the balcony and kicked the detonator from Chillingsworth's hand. It flew forward, knocking the old man against his chair and into the midst of the men bearing guns. A few shots were fired, two barely missing Rakka's frozen form and one hitting Chillingsworth shoulder. The man yelled in pain and fainted.

When it was over, Riddick was standing over the bodies of several men looking more lethal than she had ever seen him upclose. She cried out when he approached her, his hand reaching out for her. His hand wrapped around the knife's handle and took it from her hand. He took the knife and placed the blade at the side of his neck.

"Riddick, what are you….?"

He cut himself and as blood seeped down his neck his fingers dug into the wound. Rakka winced as he ripped out the tick in his skin and he threw it over the balcony into the pit.

Rakka watch it land and turned to Riddick. "Riddick, what are we…."

Riddick sheathed the knife at his belt and gathered the guns and ammo. He tossed a gun at her and she barely caught it. She held it away from her, afraid of it.

"The safety's on." Riddick murmured as he arranged the ammo onto his belt. "Wouldn't toss you a gun if it wasn't."

"I don't know how to use this." Rakka said softly.

Riddick held up a gun and pointed to the safety switch. "Just switch it off, point, and pull the trigger. Just don't shoot me in the back or I'll be piss."

"You're going to help me?"

"I ain't helping YOU." He stood and loaded the gun. He walked to Chillingsworth and began groping the unconscious man's body until he ripped out a keycard and pocketed.

"I appreciate you care about the baby." Rakka said looking away. "But when I'm safe, I want…."

"Me out of your life." Riddick finished. "Deal."

"Alright."

Riddick gave her rough instructions on how to reload the gun. "You do as I say and when I say. Don't get skittish on me and panic and shoot me. Keep your head down and I'll take point."

"Alright."

"Let's go."

They headed from the arena and down the hall came to. Riddick kept his gun out and his goggles above his eyes, the halls wre dim enough for him to do so. She watched his body from behind. He moved like a hunting lion, alert and watchful for any movement. She felt clumsy compared to him and her sweaty palms made her feel as if she may drop the gun.

They came to a corner and Riddick pressed his back against the wall and motioned for her to wait. He peered around and then motioned for her follow. For what felt like hours they did this. Rakka kept waiting for something to happen, for something to go wrong. So far, so good.

Wrong.

A shot fired and Rakka froze as Riddick began returning fire. It happened and finished in seconds. Several men lay dead further down the hall way with bullet wounds pitted on their bodies. Rakka remained where she was, frozen against the wall and hugging the gun to her chest. She hadn't fired a shot. Riddick looked at her for a moment and continue onward.

"Riddick, I'm sorry." She whispered remaining against the wall.

"Shut up."

"I can't…I…"

"SHUT UP!" He hissed turning back to her.

"I can't….I can't do this….I'm so tired…"

Riddick crossed the distanced between them and gripped her throat. He pinned her to the wall and his fingers tightened, just short of blocking her air "You ain't takin' a nap. Get off your ass and let's go."

"Riddick, don't you…ever get tired of this…?" She said after he roughly released her.

"Ask me that when people ain't huntin' us and I might answer."

* * *

They continue onward and a few times Riddick would stop her and tell her to wait while he checked it out ahead. She waited silently, her back against the wall and the gun held tightly in her hands. Sometimes he came back and gave her to come on sign and other times she heard shots, screams, yells, and a sickening crack, then he would come and motion for her to come.

Finally, they got to the hangar. And there was a ship…already prepped and ready for take off. Rakka felt a great sense of relief, the nightmare was almost over, and they were almost free. They stood at the large closed doors, all they needed to do was slide the keycard through the slot and the doors will open.

Riddick dashed away that feeling. "This is where it gets dangerous."

"What do you mean?"

"It was too easy, too fuckin' easy. They're here, waiting for us." Riddick checked his gun. "Get ready, you are going to need that gun."

"Riddick, wait, let me wait out here…"

"I need you in there with me."

"Why? You can…"

"There won't be as many bullets flying. Chillingsworth will still want you in one piece for his Gallery."

"No." But her arm was seized and she was held from behind as Riddick slid the keycard through the thin slot. The doors opened as the keypad accepted the access card. She struggled to get free, but Riddick held a gun to her head and almost carried her into the hangar.

She heard the clicking of guns as they were aimed and a voice command. "Hold back! Don't shoot without my orders." It was Junner among a thick ring of soldiers with guns.

"Everybody back the fuck up. I'm taking the ship or the bitch is gonna be missin' her head."

"Riddick, don't!"

"Shut up, bitch!" He jerked her roughly and her head hit the steel of the gun at her temple making her see spots of color.

"Fall back." Junner said. "Leave the hangar; I'll personally take care of this."

There was hesitation, but slowly one by one the ring of soldiers holstered their guns and left the hangar through a doorway to the left. All that was left in the hangar was Rakka, Riddick, and Junner.

"Stop hiding behind the woman, Riddick." Junner said. He undid his white trench coat and it whispered down his spine as it pooled at his boots. He wore a white halter about his shoulders. He artfully drew his sword from the gun. He dropped the gun and kicked it aside. "I would like to try for the 'title' again."

Riddick shoved Rakka aside and tossed the guns aside. She skidded across the floor almost skinning her knees. He looked at her and said, "You stay back and out of the way. You get in the way and we'll end up killin' you without knowin' it."

He tossed the ammo to the floor and took his knife from his belt. Rakka backed away into a tight corner and watched the two opponents face each other. Riddick held the blade and the other hand was out, his body tense ready for the attack or to attack. Junner, back straight and blade outward, merely watched him.

"Don't bother trying to turn off the lights. I had this eye made to see in the dark too."

"But out of one side. Can't see in the dark through both like me." Riddick replied.

"I would have killed you that day, if it wasn't for that little trick."

"Maybe."

Junner took first attack. He slashed out with the blade and Riddick leaned back, the end of the sword centimeters from slitting his throat. He ducked downward and slashed upward, blade whistling; Junner danced to the side and swung his sword at Riddick's exposed back. Riddick rolled and spun around to face Junner within less than a second, dodging the blade. Riddick leapt upward, blade gleaming in the light. Junner leapt backwards the tip of the blade barely missing his belly.

"You've been training." Riddick commented.

Junner grinned and lunged forward; the sword gleaming in the hangar's lights. There was a gunshot and Junner froze. His face wore an awkward look, and then he fell forward the back of his head a bleeding, throbbing mess of skull, blood, and brain.

Twenty-Two walked out of the shadows between two stacked rows of cargo, brandishing a smoking .22 Caliber pistol. He was wearing his usual white trench coat and he tipped his cowboy hat and said, "Howdy."

Riddick stood straight from his crouch and said, "Not very sportsmanlike shooting from behind."

"I ain't exactly a man, Richard B. Riddick."

"A Gardener? Like an assassin?"

"A bit more than that."

"Twenty-Two?" Rakka stood from her corner. "What. . . what are you. . . I don't. . . "

"Rakka, I am really sorry that you are here. I wish I could help you, but I can't. Got orders."

"Twenty-Two, please, don't….I thought…I thought you….I liked you."

"I like you too." Twenty-Two replied looking at her. "But I cannot ignore orders."

"Please…."

Twenty-Two looked at Riddick. "Guns, knives, or hand to hand Richard B. Riddick?"

"I'm a shiv man myself." Riddick replied.

Twenty-Two undid his holster and tossed it aside. "I'm afraid that I don't have a 'shiv', but you won't mind if I fight bare handed."

"Your death."

Riddick lunged forward, blade hissing through the air and there was a chink. Rakka stared in shock and horror. Twenty-Two fingers were wrapped around the shiv's blade and he was holding it away from his throat while Riddick was bearing on it his with all his strength. Twenty-Two lifted one hand and shoved Riddick away.

Even though it looked like a shove that would make someone stumble backward, a large man like Riddick flew across the hangar and hit the far metal wall, making an indention in the metal. Riddick slid to the floor, but he manage to stand uneasily. "Aw shit."

Twenty-Two looked at his cut palm with interest and Rakka could make out metal within the separated skin. Twenty-Two smiled and ripped open his shirt. His bare chest was pale and he dug his fingers into his flesh. Rakka nearly puked as the fingers begin stretching and tearing apart the flesh. There was no blood nor was there any bleeding muscle. Instead, underneath the ripping skin was metal.

"A goddamn robot!" Riddick snarled.

"Android actually. I'm number Twenty-Two of the series." He began approaching Riddick. "Please, die quietly. Rakka will not be harmed; she'll be safe and sound inside Chillingsworth's Gallery."

"Fuck you." Riddick snarled.

Rakka leaned against the wall stunned. Again, betrayed. Again, abandoned. She hugged herself and felt the pain slosh against her heart. She liked him; she actually wanted to love Twenty-Two. He had been there for her when she found out she was pregnant. Was that a lie? Just apart of a program to mimic human interactions? That had to be why he wasn't available to her all the time. Getting oiled, or getting repaired or whatever

Twenty-Two reached for Riddick, but he dodged and slashed at his leg. There was no blood or a cry of pain, but metal scraping against metal. Twenty-Two caught Riddick's arm in lightening quick reflexes and tossed him. Riddick was flung again through the air and rolled across the floor when he landed.

He stopped rolling near Junner's body and grabbed the sword. He jumped to his feet and watched Twenty-Two coming for him. The android simply walked calmly. There was no tension about him or hurriedness. It was as if he was walking across the hangar to fetch a paper from a coffee table.

Riddick threw his knife, which was aimed for Twenty-Two's right eye. The android caught it before it hit its mark. Twenty-Two held it and examined it carefully, his attention off Riddick.

Riddick charged forward after the knife brandishing the sword.

The stronger and sharper metal bit into the androids side and a crackling sound emitted and sparks flew. Riddick yanked the blade out and spun with it; Twenty-Two caught it before it could hit his head with his free hand. His other hand dropped the shiv and it hit the metal floor clanging with an echo that hurt Rakka's ears.

Twenty-Two twisted the sword, forcing Riddick to twist bodily with it. Riddick kicked at the android's knee, but got no reaction. Twenty-Two grabbed Riddick's other hand and pulled him close. Riddick continued to refuse to relinquish the blade into the android's hand, but nor could he free his wrist from Twenty-Two's grip. It was so strange seeing a small man easily over powering a larger man.

Twenty-Two brought his face close to Riddick's and said, "Let me show you something that Rakka taught me."

He pressed his lips to Riddick's. The kiss was smooth and deep, then….Twenty-Two pulled his head back and part of his lip was missing. Riddick spit out the fabricated skin butted his head against Twenty-Two's nose. Twenty-Two released him and the sword. Riddick leapt backward with the sword posed and ready.

"You didn't like it?" Twenty-Two asked.

"Like this." Riddick snapped driving the sword forward.

Twenty-Two held up a hand and the tip of the sword bit into the palm and ripped through as Riddick shoved it with all his strength. It blasted through Twenty-Two's hand and cut into his shoulder. Riddick levered it quickly and Twenty-Two's right arm hit the floor sparking.

Riddick slashed again at the expose circuitry at the arm stump, but Twenty-Two stopped it with his left hand. Riddick delivered a round house kick. The booted foot landed on the side of the android's face, but it caused no damage nor received a reaction. Twent-Two shoved Riddick with his shoulder.

Riddick bounded backward. He was breathing hard and his shirt was damp and his arms shone with sweat. Twent-Two picked up his severed arm and examine it. "I've never been damaged so extensively before."

"First time for everything." Riddick replied.

Twenty-Two tossed the metallic limb aside. "I underestimated you."

"Most do."

"I wish we could be friends, but that is not possible." Twenty-Two charged forward, Riddick danced away and slashed with all his might.

The blade found its mark and the Twenty-Two's head rolled sparking to the floor. The headless body jolted and twitched as it hit the floor. Riddick stepped back as the body convulsed on the floor and then laid still. Riddick prodded it with the sword. It gave no reaction; Twenty-Two was dead or nonfunctional.

Riddick dropped to one knee and exhaled a long breath. The fight was over and he was uneasily drained. Very few times has been in a fight that drained him of his energy so much. He and Rakka had to keep moving. He can rest on the ship they take.

A gun clicked and Riddick looked over his shoulder to see Rakka and Chillingsworth. Rakka held a gun to Riddick's head and Chillingsworth was holding a golden old fashioned gun aimed at Rakka's head. His sleeve was soaked with red blood and he looked pale from blood loss and rage. His once neatly combed hair was tangled and he looked like a very old man.

"Pull the trigger, Rakka Laotaner." Chillingsworth hissed. "I'm giving you a chance to do what many men and women have tried and failed to do. Kill Riddick."

Rakka swallowed staring at the back of Riddick's head. "Please, don't make me…."

"You will kill this savage."

"No….he's…."

"He got you into this, kill him."

"No…please…."

"You stupid tart!"

Twenty-Two's body convulsed and Chillingsworth started in fright and his gun lowered. Rakka whirled and hit the old man in the jaw with her gun. He fell onto his back on the floor and he raised his gun. Rakka fired hers first. She fired three shots into his chest.

When the gun shot's echoes stopped resounding throughout the hangar, Rakka found herself standing over the body of a dead man.

She stared at the dead body of the second man she had killed in her life. The hangar doors opened and men spilled into the hangar. Rakka felt her vision darken and she fell as the words rang out.

"DON'T MOVE! THIS IS THE POLICE!"


	30. Slam

She sat on the edge of the bench, alert, and very scared. Her orange jumpsuit was almost too big for her as were the boots. She was the only woman aboard the small shuttle which was landing at what would be her prison and hell. Already she heard unwanted comments from the five other convicts and their plans for her.

She trembled and placed her hands on her belly where her unborn child had lived. Rakka Laotaner was forced to abort her pregnancy, it was procedure and policy for any woman entering a slam to terminate any pregnancy and be sterilize.

She closed her eyes to shut out the memory of them dragging her into the clinic to kill her baby. They had strapped her to a table while an intern sent small lasers into her pelvis to destroy her child and any chances of her bearing more children. She had cried, screamed, begged, threatened, screeched, curse, spit, scratched, bit, and everything that was within her power to stop it, but it was useless, her child was dead.

What would Riddick say? She didn't know. The last time she saw him was within Chillingsworth's hangar, being taken away by the authorities. For a horrible week, she was kept in a cell until they came to tell her that she would be going to a Triple Max Slam called Red Hades.

She clenched her hands and felt the cuffs at her wrists tighten. How? She had gotten her life back and it was so brutally snatched away. She was being put away for killing a man that wanted to freeze her into a statue in front of a dozen witnesses. Who called the authorities, she would never know.

The shuttle shook slightly as it landed. She barely heard the robotic instructions as the chain connected to her cuffs fell away. She stood with the other prisoners and filed out the back shuttle as the boarding ramp lowered.

Red Hades had once been city, the single city on a newly discovered planet 150 years ago. It was a rich city and economy was based on mining of a rare precious metal. They had used explosives one fateful day and it awoken a massive volcano which erupted. It shot up enough ash to block out the sky and sent the planet into a global winter. Ash and snow landed on her shoulders and clung to her long hair which was tied into ponytail. The city had been remodeled into a prison and it towered over her and the other prisoners.

She was shoved from behind and she realized she had stopped to stare the high towers and rails. She fell into line toward a set of huge double doors. They folded inward opening like the maw of a monster.

A tall man came out wearing a uniform armor and following him was four other soldiers wearing armor similar to his. He was black, his was hair closely shaven into a buzz cut and his dark eyes scoured the prisoners and landed on her. He raised an eyebrow.

She swallowed and looked away. She wished she was small and unnoticeable, she wished she was somewhere else, anywhere else.

A gloved hand gripped her chin and turned her face upward to look at the black man. He studied her as a scientist may study an interesting rock and roughly released her rolling her head back. "I'm sure Buzz Saw will want get his hands on this one." She shuddered and fought back a shaking sob.

"Alright, get them in their cells and delouse. One hour before lights out."

As they filed toward the opening of Red Hades, the black man began talking to them. The four guards guided them; keeping close watch and shoving any stragglers and threatening any that they thought may try to make a break.

"Welcome to Red Hades, which I'm sure you will start calling Red Hell as everyone else does. You do as you are told and when you are told and how you are told without question and maybe there won't be any problems. Which is alright, because I love solving problems. I am Second in Command Dustril Tier and hope you never have to visit me due to misconduct. I won't like it and nor will you."

The men were led off in different directions. Rakka was left alone with Dustril and one of the guards. She was taken down a long hall and they stopped several times to clear several check points and verify identities before they were allowed to continue.

Then they entered into the prisoners' quarters. Cells lined the halls and prisoners were either walking the halls or inside their prisons. The stench assailed her nose. It reeked of sweating bodies, urine, narcotics, and other stuff she didn't care to know of. She heard screams from within closed cells, screams of pain and screams demanding to be let out. She kept her eyes forward and ignored the stares, the invites, the jeers, and calls.

"Oh, shit yeah!"

"Finally, a goddamn woman!"

"Over here, baby! Over here!"

"Thank God! We get pussy for once!"  
"Fuckin' yeah!"

"Want some milk, kitty."

She was taken to a lone cell at the end of the hall. The cuffs were removed from her wrists and she was shoved into the cell.

"Hold your breath." Dustril said.

The cell door slammed shut behind her and she heard gas hissing. She quickly inhaled and held her breath as the gas billowed against her body. It stung her exposed skin and made her want to rub her hands. She had no idea how much longer it would last, her lungs were starting to hurt from need of more air. It finally stopped and she released her breath and was able to breath. It smelled of ammonia and almost stung her nose.

The cell door open, but Dustril and the guard were no longer there. Instead were three prisoners at the entrance. One she recognized that was catcalling her earlier was behind her saying something about milk. He was tall and had reddish brown hair and a scar along his jaw. One wore a hood and he looked horribly burned, his skin pitted as if it was exposed muscle. The last one was short and looked part Asian.

"Stay away from me." She said backing away. She knew what they wanted and she knew that there was nothing she could do or say to dissuade them.

"Here kitty, kitty." The tall man said stepping into her cell. He reached into his waist band and withdrew a sharp piece of metal. It looked as if was from a piece of a metallic tray or roof. She backed away until she nearly tripped over the small toilet in the back. She pressed herself against the wall.

He approached her and dropped a heavy hand on her shoulder. His fingers dug into her flesh as he waved the metal in front of her face. "You're gonna shut the fuck up and be still. We jes wanna give ya a greetin' to Red Hell."

His breath stank and she turned away closing her eyes. She felt the sharp edge of the blade press against her cheek and felt weight at her shoulder. Something wet and warm touched her neck and her lips parted to moan in a shuddering sob. His teeth and lips sucked at her neck and a hand went to her front and began pulling down the zipper of her jumpsuit.

She heard movement ahead of her and she felt her stomach rolled as she realized that his friends were coming to join him. She swallowed the bile in her throat and kept her eyes tightly shut. _Just keep your eyes close and pretend that it's Riddick. _

She heard a sound of a hand patting a clothed shoulder. "Waitaminute." The man growled against her neck. "You wait over there with Ugly till I get done. I hadn't had a woman in six fuckin' years." A dirty hand slipped inside her jumpsuit, shoved underneath her gray under shirt, and grabbed her right breast. A voice hissed into her ear. "Oh, god, yesssss." He squeezed her painfully.

There was rough movement and she was almost thrown to the ground. She opened her eyes to see Riddick holding a sharp shiv against the tall man's throat.

"Yer gonna hafta wait another six years then." Riddick said into his face.

She felt joy, dread, relief, fear, sadness, grief, and other emotions tear through her soul at the sight of Riddick practically throwing the man across the cell to the opening where his scared comrades stood. The man fell to the floor and shoved himself to his feet. "Fuck you, Riddick, go on and fuck her. Better enjoy it, cuz Buzz Saw is gonna have a claim on her tomorrow."

The men left hurriedly and Riddick turned to her. As she was getting her feet, she was roughly grabbed by the shoulder, yanked to her feet, and shoved against the wall. She looked up questionably into Riddick's face and what she saw froze her.

She had always been afraid of Riddick since that night long ago in the woods. He had always seemed hard and dangerous, but now….he terrified her. His hard hand tightened on her shoulder, hurting her, making her almost whimper from the pain.

"Riddick…?" She whimpered. "It's me…."

"I know who you are, meat." Riddick tilted his head. He wrapped his hand around her upper arm and drugged her along with him. She yelped as her arm was twisted as she was almost carried by the arm from her cell.

Several prisoners watched them and others made comments.

"Big man Riddick is staking claim!"

"Oh, shit!"

"Buzz Saw ain't gonna like this!"

"There's gonna be fuckin' trouble."

She was hauled into a cell further down the hall from hers and she was surprised to see an old man in the cell sitting on the cot. He looked very old with white hair and dirty beard hanging nearly to his chest. He narrowed his eyes as a nearsighted person would.

"Shit, boy, you are askin' for it now."

"There's an empty cell at the end." Riddick replied hiking a thumb over his shoulder. He threw Rakka forward, and she stumbled and had to catch herself on the cott carved into the cell's wall to keep from falling.

"Fine, I dun wanna be here when da shit hits da fan." The old man said as he picked up a small bag and stood. He looked at Riddick and said in a serious voice, "Buzz Saw AIN'T gonna look away from dis one."

"As if I give a shit." Riddick returned.

"Who's Buzz Saw?" Rakka asked.

"Someone yore gonna meet whether ya like or not." The old man quipped as he left the cell.

She was alone with a man she barely recognized. He walked to her and shoved her roughly onto cott. He sat beside her moving his hand to the back of her throat, fingers pressed into her skin, hurting her. She shivered and shifted to get away from the cruel hand, but he yanked her back making her yelp with pain.

"Riddick…"

"Shut up." He snapped. "Almost lights out. Then we'll talk."

She looked down at her lap and shivered. She heard the guards' yells of lights out echoing down the halls and heard them as they marched down the halls. She heard swearing as some prisoners are forced into their cells and the yelps of pain as some were punished. A guard stopped at their cell and looked in at them. He gave Rakka an ugly leer and Riddick a somewhat approving glance before he continued. She jumped when the cell door slammed shut locking her and Riddick inside the cell.

"So they fucked you over becuz of Chillingsworth?" He asked releasing her and leaning at the cot of the cot against the wall. The tension seemed to ooze out of his frame and made her relax. . .a little.

"Yeah." She said looking at her hands. She looked up at him and said, "They…killed the baby….and they sterilized me."

Riddick shrugged. "Better than having it in this place."

"How can you say that?" She was suddenly angry. "It was YOUR child too!"

"After you spend a few days here, you'll be agreein' with me." He leaned forward and studied her. "You better stop thinkin' about then and start concentratin' on now. You just walked through the fuckin' door, and you're already in shit deep of trouble." She felt a touch on her face and Riddick was cupping her chin and turning her head to look at him. He leaned forward and said, "Now my question is, what you are willing to do to get me deal with the shit?"

"I…don't understand…"

"Let me simplify it for you." Riddick said releasing her. "You are the first woman to walk through those doors in five years. You ain't the only woman here. There are two others that I know of in a prison of 7,000 men."

Rakka swallowed.

"Buzz Saw is…for right now he's the top dog around here. He's the leader of the toughest gang in this part of the prison and he's owner of the only two women. And I don't doubt he's plannin' on being the owner of three women soon."

Rakka felt her stomach hit the floor.

"Only reason you're here and not in his hole is cuz it's almost lights out, but come morning someone'll be out there waiting to collect ya for 'im." Riddick leaned forward toward her. "What I want to know….is what yer willing to give me to keep 'em from takin' your ass?"

"Riddick….I….what….?"

Riddick looked away irritated. "Rakka, if I stick my neck out, then Buzz Saw's gonna get pissed. I ain't afraid of the fucker, but it's gonna get annoyin' havin' to kill any dumbfucks he sends my way, and dealin' with all the bullshit that'll come my way if I claim you."

"Claim me. Like you'll be my owner…." Rakka felt very scared and confused. It was happening too much and so fast.

"Yeah. Rakka, it's gonna happen whether you want it to or not. In Slams women are owned. Period. Sure, I've seen some tough bitches that take down bunch of poor fucks that messed with 'em. But things got real easier for 'em after they let themselves get owned and guys stopped messin' with 'em."

"Will claiming me keep me safe?" Rakka asked. She was scared and she knew she sounded like an idiot, but she wanted to fully understand the situation.

"Hell, no. It'll probably put you in even more danger, but hell….you'll have only me to deal with and not Buzz Saw and some other fucks."

Riddick gripped her shoulder painfully and pulled her close to him. He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "Rakka, if I claim you….you better get use to a lot of changes between us. No more bitchin' at me, no more changin' your mind about fuckin', no complainin', nothin'. Becuz, if you try any of that shit….I'm gonna hafta hurt you."

A stone dropped inside her. "Riddick….you can't…why?"

He suddenly shoved her against the wall his face inches from hers and his breath hot on her face. "What? You think we're friends? You think I owe you sumthin' since I knocked you up? Baby's gone now. Nothin. Yer just another woman like you've always been."

It hurt. She was scared and she was did not know this man with her. "What do you want me to do?" She was scared, almost to the point where she wanted to scream hysterically. She did, when the lights suddenly blinked out.

The darkness was solid, almost like a curtain that filled the cell. She could try touching her eyes with a finger and she still wouldn't see anything. She was released and shoved forward. She fell to the floor, banging her knees and palms when she caught herself. She groped the floor and touched the wall. She clung to it to keep her sanity.

"What happened?" She gasped.

"Lights out." A gravel voice said into her ear. She whipped around to touch him to gain for bearing on her surroundings, but he was gone. A touch at her shoulder and she turned reaching out. Nothing. Riddick was playing with her. "Stop!"

Her arm was sized and she swung her other arm, but it was caught in a powerful grip. Her arms was forced back making her arch her back and her chest was pressed against a hard one. Her body melded with his he leaned over her arched body his mouth on hers.

It was intense and she felt heat travel from her mouth to heat a line down her stomach to her loins. It almost made the intense pain in her strained shoulders and arms feel good. . . almost. It jolted her as she was shoved onto her back and the ripping sound of her jumpsuit being ripped open filled her ears. She struggled to keep it on, but the material was ripped from her hands and she was flipped easily onto her stomach. She had no control of her body and movement as a rag doll being rough handled by a child.

The felt the cold floor through the thin gray tank top she wore beneath the jumpsuit. She moved her arms to push herself up, but a rough hand pushed her back down.

She felt him straddling her legs and heard a shing sound. She froze, a sound like that could only come from something sharp and metallic brushing against metal. She felt movement and she heard the rending sound of fabric being cut. At first, she thought he was removing her pants, but she felt a free feeling. She reached behind her and felt around her waist. The top half of the jumpsuit was gone. It was cut away just above the elastic waistband.

She felt a blow to the back of her head. She didn't start to see darkness; it was already there as she lost consciousness.

Something heavy was on top of her and her chest hurt. She opened her eyes and find that her arm was asleep for that she was on the cot and was propped against the wall, her arm between her and the wall. And something very large and heavy was leaning on her. It was warm and was breathing, inhaling and exhaling, expanding and pressing her against the corner. She inhaled and smelled a familiar musky scent; Riddick was leaning against her.

She opened her eyes, it was still unbearably dark. Her chest hurt, right above her breasts. She touched it and her eyes widen as she realized that the skin was cut. It felt wet, sticky, and hurt when she gently touched it. She tenderly traced and realized it was several more cuts on her skin. What did Riddick do?

The weight on her lifted and she heard boots scrape against the floor. There was a moment of silence and she heard water tinkling. It sounded like…..she turned her head away from the sound as if she could see in the darkness.

"Riddick?" She whispered.

"Yeah?" The tinkling stopped and there was faint ruffle as he zipped himself. The toilet flushed and she heard him approaching her.

It was unnerving to speak in the darkness to someone who she couldn't see. "When will the lights come back?"

"Soon. Twenty minutes possibly."

"My chest hurts."

"I know….I made it hurt." The footsteps stopped in front of her and she felt the air stir as a large body stopped near her. She felt the awareness of something body looking at her from above.

"What did you….?"

"You'll see when the lights come on."

She swallowed and pushed herself away from the cot. Her head swam and then she felt the dull ache in her head. She touched her head and leaned back her legs splayed forward.

"You hit me…."

"So you wouldn't feel anythin'."

"What did you do?"

"You'll see."

"No, tell me."

"It's somethin' you'll have to see for yourself."

Suddenly, she felt pressure in her stomach. She had to pee. "Riddick, I have to go."

"Then go."

"I can't see the toilet."

She felt a hand touch her shoulder. She stood and nearly collapsed backward from the nauseous balloon inside her skull. He gripped her shoulder and waist to kept her from falling. She shuffled her feet until her shin bumped into the toilet.

"Don't look." She said.

"I already saw you naked."

"I don't want you to watch me pee."

"Honey, pretty soon you ain't gonna give a shit."

"Riddick…please….."

"Shit."

She didn't know whether or not he turned around, but she couldn't wait. She pushed her jumpsuit pants and the sweat pants beneath it to her knees. She felt around carefully till she was sitting on the toilet. She urinated and realized she forgot something.

"What do I…..you know….wipe with……?"

"It's on the floor."

She grouped the ground till she touched cutup pieces of fabric. It felt like her jumpsuit. "Are these pieces of jumpsuit?"

"Yeah, mine and your top."

"You use these as toilet paper?"

"Bandages, towels, napkins, whatever the fuck do you think?"

"That's….God…..Riddick…."

"What? You think there's a little store down the hall where you can pick up pack of toilet paper and maybe a few bags of chips? Hell, no. You use whatever the fuck you can get your hands on in a Slam."

"How do you clean them?"

"Yer sittin' on the washing machine."

She closed her eyes despite not being able to see in the darkness. She finished herself up and flushed the toilet. She stood and pulled her pants up. At that moment the lights came on.

It hurt her eyes and she winced. She squeezed them till her eyes adjusted. She managed to see Riddick sitting on the far cot watching her. "You can look now."

She swallowed and looked at her chest. Her mouth opened in a silent scream of horror. There were cuts on her chest and smeared blood was around the wounds. Each cut was precise and were arrange where they spelled one word.

RIDDICK

She nearly fell, but she caught herself against the wall. "Riddick….what did you….why….oh god…..oh god….."

"If someone gets owned in a Slam, they're marked. Even when they join a gang they get marked. Usually it's done with tattoos, but I didn't have any ink."

"You're sick."

"Aren't we all?" He stood and approached her. She backed away until her back was pressed against the wall near the toilet. He touched her skin near the wound. "This WILL make people think twice before touching you."

She shuddered in revulsion from his touch. She slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me!"

He seized her shoulders and slammed her against the wall. "Better get use to it, bitch. Before the day's over, I might have to bleed for you and I will expect compensation."

"No."  
"No? No as in you KNOW that you owe me or no as in NO you won't compensate." His voice was rough and loud full of potential violence. She could only look into his face in terror and in the horrifying numbing knowledge that there was no where she could go to escape or seek protection.

There was a sound as the cell door opened. Riddick pulled her close and hissed into her face. "Keep your head down and DO NOT make eye contact with anybody. You stay near me and don't say a fuckin' word. You do what I say, no questions. You do those things and maybe you'll be able to sleep in this cell again. Do you understand me?"

She swallowed and nodded.

"Let's go."

He released her and headed toward the exit. She stayed behind her hands over her his name engraved into her flesh. He stopped at the exit and turned to her. He whistled through his teeth and pointed at the floor near his feet. She blinked and stared at him.

"Get. The. Fuck. Over. Here. Now." He hissed each word through his teeth.

She hesitated and then made her way to his side. She followed him out of the cell and down the hall. She glanced to the side to see inmates do various things. She stopped dead when she noticed two were lying on the floor inside their cell nude and in each other's arms. She looked away and nearly bumped in Riddick's back.

"There goes Riddick's bitch!"

"Shit! He marked her good."

"Skank must be into cutting."

"Or he is."

"Buzz Saw ain't gonna like that."

The hall ended and turned into a small set of stairs. She followed Riddick upward into a circular courtyard lined with benches carved into the walls. Others were already in the courtyard and she felt all eyes on her. She noticed the cameras and gun turrets that hung from the edges of the walls. She looked upward and could see the ashen sky lined with skyscraping towers and railings.

Riddick chose a spot on a bench. He grabbed her shoulder and made her sit on the floor leaning against the bench while he sat on the bench. He shifted her body near his legs and he leaned back, arms crossed over the broad field of his chest.

She hugged her legs to her chest. She felt Riddick smack the back of her head. She gasped and clutched her head. It had hurt.

"Lower your legs." He said in a stiff tone. "I want everybody to see who you belong to."

She folded her legs and sat dejected. She didn't know how long they sat there. Maybe an hour or two. Men stood around talked, smoked, and cast glances at her. She heard comments and remarks which she forced herself to ignore.

Riddick was even approached a few times, offering to pay to have ten minutes with her. They offered cigarettes, shivs, and even smuggled drugs.

"Keep walkin'." Riddick replied to one would be john. "She's ain't for rent."

"They're good. Hard to get these in this place." The guy lifted a small container from his pocket, enough for a glance for Riddick, but hidden from the cameras.

"I ain't into 'em." Rakka realized for the first time that she had never seen Riddick smoke or do anything more than drink alcohol. She never even saw him drunk.

"Lissen man, name your price and I can get it."

"Like I said, she ain't for rent. Take your shit somewhere else."

"Bullshit. Buzz Saw rents his out."

Riddick pointed at her chest where he had scrawled his name into her skin. "Does that read Buzz Saw to you?"

"Fuck you."

"She will." Riddick motioned to Rakka.

The man stormed off. Rakka relaxed and exhaled a breath she was holding. When the first one came offering money, she had been terrified, but had relaxed when Riddick rejected his offer. Soon a horn sounded and Riddick stood, forcing her to shift over.

"Meal time." He said.

She stood and followed him toward an entrance on the far side of the courtyard. They passed by several guards who stood with stun guns loaded and out of their holsters. They entered an area that resembled a large cafeteria. Several tables were aligned across the floor and benches were melded to the floor.

Prisoners were lined up against the wall being supervised by guards. They were waiting against for a service vendor. They each took up a tray made of rubber from a counter connected to the wall and had their tray filled by a machine that drizzle some sort of pasty contents.

When the men noticed Riddick, they readily stepped aside and let them through to the front. Rakka realized that he's been here for over a week and already he gained respect and fear from every man in this place. She wondered what all he had done here before she was brought here.

They got their trays and got their 'food'. Riddick selected a table where no one was sitting and was far from the majority of the others. They sat in silence and Rakka studied her meal. It was an orangey unsavory color that reminded her of throw up.

"Eat it." She turned to see Riddick was spooning it with his fingers into his mouth. He swallowed and studied her. "Better eat. It's all they give you here."

She swallowed and gathered a pinch between thumb and finger. She closed her eyes and placed the goo between her lips and tasted it. It wasn't as bad as she thought, but it didn't taste good either.

She began eating slowly, dreading each mouthful. She noticed that no one bothered to sit at their table. They would walk a wide berth around their table and tried hard not to stare. However, they would stare at her and she heard the same comments as before, but she concentrated on her food.

She was almost finished when a man sat heavily at their table across from them, startling her. She looked up to see a huge man. He had deeply tanned skin and his hair was very dark. He was as tall as Riddick and almost as built as him. He had a slanting scar across his lips which made him look as if he had harelip on is upper and lower lip. His hair was tied back into a loose ponytail and was slicked away neatly from his face. He had a cigarette between his scarred lips and deep icy blue blues were on her.

She looked away remembering the rule about no eye contact.

Then two women came and stood behind the man. She stared at them, shocked. One was how she would imagine a woman to be in this hell. She wore a torn jumpsuit and her blonde hair was tangled in tufts as if it had been pulled many times by many hands. Her green eyes….Rakka never seen eyes like them before….they looked dead as if there was no emotion at all, no soul. She was nothing more than walking shell, a breathing doll with no will other than those of her master. She had fresh bruises on her arms, neck, and face. There was a dog collar around her neck and a long chain trailed behind her and connected to the man's belt.

The second one, made Rakka straighten as chills trailed down her spine. The woman looked younger than herself, almost in her teens. She had dark hair that was shaved close to her scalp except for a long ponytail that hung down her back. She wore the orange jumpsuit pants, but her top was cutoff showing off her slim waist and flat stomach. She looked as if she belonged in an inner city high school. Her bright blue eyes were on Rakka and she recognized that look from a certain beautiful woman from Echo named Noa.

Rakka felt her stomach roll and she wanted to push her tray away. Riddick tensed and pushed his empty tray to the side. She didn't know whether he was finished eating or he wanted the tray out of the way incase things got rough.

The man rolled his cigarette between his lips and said, "I see you got something of mine." He placed his arms on the table and Rakka noticed a vine like tattoo trailing around his forearm. He laced he fingers together and his thumbs rubbed against each other. He spoke surprisingly like a business man and had an accent that Rakka couldn't place; he was definitely from outside of the Green system.

"And what would that be?" Riddick asked casually.

"This woman as you should well know." The man replied.

"You must be Buzz Saw I've been hearing so much about." Riddick leaned forward. "How's Grady? He walking okay after I popped his knee out of joint?"

"I apologize about what he tried to do in the showers." Buzz Saw shrugged. "There should be more women around here, and then men will not have to turn to each other." Rakka's eyes widen and it was all she could do not to look up at Riddick in shock. "Speaking of women, then you must know why I have come to you."

"Yeah, I got an idea." Riddick ran his tongue along his teeth.

"I offer you a deal, a very generous deal I might add. You allow me to take her with me after mealtime. Give her to me now without problems or complications, and then I will give you free access to my pets and her for three months and 10 menthol kools."

Riddick whistled, obviously impressed. "That is fuckin' generous."

"I see that you agree with me. I do not wish to make an enemy of you; in fact I wish you would work for me. Work for me and I am sure you will rise high in rank and will have certain privileges allowed to my top men alone." He motioned to the two women behind him and then at Rakka.

"But ya got ta have notice, that I signed my name on the merchandise." Riddick motioned to the cuts on her chest.

"Yes, that is…problematic I am afraid. I do wish that you had not done that, but one cannot weep over what has already flowed under the bridge. I am sure that Agony will be happy to remove your name from her."

The blue eye girl stepped forward slipping an arm around Buzz Saw's wide shoulders. She grinned flirtingly at Rakka and licked her upper lip. Rakka noticed that she had multiple piercings on her lips, nose, ears, and eyebrows. The girl would loose her face if she went near a high powered magnet.

Rakka shrink back on her seat. She wanted to grab Riddick's arm, but she was afraid to touch him. She watched the girl, Agony, lick the side of Buzz Saw's face cheek. He nudged her away and she obediently stepped away, removing her arm from his shoulders.

"I think I like my name right where it is."

"I see. You will not relinquish her to me."

"That's right."

"Are you concern of her welfare?" Buzz Saw inquired.

"No, look what I did." Riddick motioned to her chest again.

"I assure you that she will be under good care."

"Like her?" Riddick waved a hand toward the blonde.

"You must understand that I offer excellent care, but I also offer strict discipline too. As I am sure that you offer."

"Sure, the bitch acts up, and a few smacks put her back right in line."

"Is there any offer or agreement that we could come to at this time to persuade you to give her to me now?"

"Not gonna happen." Riddick replied.

"I see. I am sorry that this business could not have ended with positive results. If I may, may I inquire about her name?"

Rakka looked up and glanced at Riddick. He looked back at her and nodded. She kept her eyes down to the tabletop and said, "My name is Rakka."

"I thank you for listening to my proposal, but you must understand that I cannot allow you to keep her. I am afraid that I will take measure to attain her."

"Bring on the fuckers." Riddick replied.

"I brought a small gift, a token of my wish to resolve this issue in a friendly matter." He snapped his fingers and the broken woman stepped forward and placed two bars on the tabletop. Rakka stared, they were two chocolate bars.

Buzz Saw stood and said, "I assure you that they are not poisoned or contaminated. I will not risk harming something I wish to attain. If you happen to change your mind, Mr. Riddick, then please get in touch with one of my men and they will bring the message to me."

The man turned and walked away. He tugged at the chain hook at his belt and the broken woman followed, but Agony stayed a few moments to smile at Rakka in a seductively haze. She reached out. Rakka sucked in air and waited for Riddick to do something.

She realized that the girl was wearing special gloves with sharp bits of metal at the ends as if she was mimicking animal claws. The sharp metallic tips scratch lightly at her cheek and across her lips.

"Keep touchin' her and yer gonna have to pay." Riddick said casually.

Agony laughed and turned and sauntered away. Rakka watched her go and released a long breath. "He was polite."

"Sister, they don't call him Buzz Saw for nuthin'." Riddick replied.


	31. LockDown

The chocolates were, possibly the best thing she would taste in this hell hole called a slam. Riddick gave her his after he took a small bite from each one to test for poison and they were alright to him.

They spent the rest of the day in the courtyard. Rakka sat by Riddick's legs like he wanted, and he reclined against the wall, eyes on the courtyard. She eyed the cameras and realized that they were seated directly in front of a camera's view. So if anything was going to happen, it wouldn't happen right in front of security with gun turrets.

"Riddick?"

"What?" His voice indicated that he didn't want her talking.

"Is this a safe place?"

"Fuck, no place is safe."

"But the cameras…"

"Will turn some off, but not all. All they'll do is put yer ass in the Hole for a few days."

"Hole?"

"Shut the hell up." Riddick hissed. "Talk later before lights out."

Rakka studied her hands on her lap. She gave glances to the men about the court yard and that was about her only entertainment. She became unusually tired and caught herself leaning on her head on Riddick's knee. She sat up and even scooted away a little, then her shoulder was roughly seized and she was yanked against his legs.

"Wanna sleep, then sleep, but don't fuckin' move away from me." He growled at her.

Her shoulder and side was pressed uncomfortably against his leg. She waited until her heart stopped pounding. She suddenly didn't want to be near Riddick at all, and her shoulder hurt and so did her chest. She was angry, she was so helplessly angry at herself, Riddick, the men around her, and the whole fucking planet. She didn't be there, but the knowledge that she could leave grated on her; rubbed her raw, as raw as the wounds on her chest. She sat in uncomfortable silence for almost an hour until she leaned her head on his leg and slept.

She woke up when Riddick suddenly stood and jolted her bodily. She grabbled to her feet and looked at him questionably. He walked off toward the prison cells. She followed him back down the stairs and into the long hallway. She took in her surroundings and saw the various graffiti painting the walls. Some of it was unreadable and others contained threats and cursing.

Riddick halted in the hall and held up a hand. "Wait here."

"What?"

He headed down the hall and Rakka watched his back. She glanced around scared, not wanting to be far from him. "Riddick?"

He disappeared into their cell and she heard shouting, cussing. She started forward and then a man sailed through the air from their cell and smashed against the far wall. She backed away almost crashing into another prisoner approaching the cell to investigate. She spun away from him and pressed herself against the wall, but luckily he was more interested in what was going on in the cell than in her.

A second man stumbled out bleeding from the jaw and his jumpsuit torn revealing a gaping shoulder wound. He was bearing a sharp piece of metal that glinted in the overhead lights. From his face, he was more enraged by the wound than pained by it. He lunged forward slashing the shiv into the cell. A few second later, she heard a grunt and a rattling choke. The man's body fell onto the floor out of the cell with the shiv in his heart.

Rakka froze staring at the dead bodies. Riddick stepped out of the cell and motioned to her. He didn't have a scratch anywhere on him and he didn't even have sweat glinting off his skin at all. She stepped to him, her back to the wall and her eyes on the bodies. Riddick caught her shoulder and shoved her into the cell. He guided her to sit on the cot at the back of the cell and he sat across from her on the other side.

Riddick seemed to recline back against the wall of the cot, but she could still see the tension in his limbs. She knew that if a third man was stupid enough to try to attack, Riddick would be on him in less than a second.

"Riddick. . . " She started wanting to know what had happened.

"Shut up." He hissed venomously and she quieted and folded her hands on her lap.

She didn't know how long it was until guards stormed the area brandishing shields and stun guns. They barked orders at the inmates to get to their cells and she heard the sicken sounds of some getting hit with a stun gun, whapped with a shield, or kicked by a cruel boot. The black man, Dustril entered the cell with two guards, hands behind his back and his dark eyes regarded Riddick with knowing suspicion. She kept her eyes tilted downward and her hands clasped together on her lap.

"One of you two care to explain how the hell two dead men wounded up outside your cell?" He looked from her to Riddick and back to her.

"Why don't you ask the fucks that ghosted 'em?" Riddick replied casually.

"Maybe I am." Dustril returned stepping closer to Riddick. "What's wrong, Riddick? You suddenly afraid to take credit for a kill? You weren't afraid to take credit for the kills in the showers."

Rakka pricked her ears. What happened in the showers? She glanced upward and was startled to see Dustril had his eyes on her. His eyes were on her chest and she felt heat flush to her face before she realized he was staring at Riddick's name etched into her flesh.

"Damn, whatever the fuck happened to tattooing?" Durstril turned to Riddick.

"Scars are the new 'thing'." Riddick replied.

"Didn't know you knew how to spell."

"Didn't know you knew how to read."

"This ain't her cell. She's in Cell 456 down the hall."

"Something must be wrong with your eyes because she's here in Hell Hole 449." Riddick replied.

Rakka winced and became afraid of what may escalated from this banter. Why is Riddick acting like this now toward the head of the guards?

"I see what the fuck is going on here. All this shit over a little girl. You claim her for yourself, Buzz Saw gets pissed and sends his two guys to fuck you over and get her before lights out."

"Ask him, you're his bitch."

Dustril laughed and casually stepped toward the wall and leaned against it. He leaned toward Riddick and said, "That just earned you and your bitch three days of lockdown."

"I don't think Buzz Saw will like that."

"Buzz Saw works for me, punk. He don't like it, he'll deal." Dustril turned and stalked out of the cell with the guards backing out, guns trained on Riddick. One of the guards raised a comlink to his lips and spoke a command. A few seconds later the cell door slammed shut behind them.

Rakka swallowed and said, "What's lockdown?"

"You know what being grounded means. We're stuck in here for three days."

"What about food?"

"Slide it under the door through a slot." Riddick replied and lifted his long legs to recline on the cot.

Rakka curled onto her side on her cot. She watched Riddick sitting propped up against the wall. She curled her legs to her chest and hugged them despite the pain in her cut chest. "Does that mean we're safe for the next three days?"

"Maybe."

"What happened in the showers?"

"Some dumb fuck must have been high on somethin' because he tried to felt me up."

Rakka sat up and stared. "You mean he touched you?"

"What do you think?"

She lay back down. "Were you hurt?"

"What do you think?"

She rolled onto her other side facing the cold wall. "Why is it lights out so soon?"

"This planet has 12 hour days. 6 hours of it we spend in lights out."

"Oh."

The lights flicked off and she gasped at the sudden darkness. "Is it always going to be this dark every lights out?"

There was no answer.

"Riddick?"

She felt rough hands on her side and shoulder making her roll onto her back. She raised her hands to brush the hands away. They were persistent and she was tugged off the cot. She whimpered as her body slipped off the cot and hit the metal floor. Her chest sang with pain that seemed to spread down her arms.

"Stop." She was pushed onto her back.

"You don't want me to stop." Her tank top was pulled upward and she felt a cool breeze on her breasts.

"Yes, I want you to stop it." She fought to pull her shirt down, and whine from the pain that emitted from her chest from their struggles.

"If I have to stop, then I'm going to make you regret it." She heard him growl inches from her face. She could feel the threat of him on her face. She was pulled away from the base of the cot despite her trying to dig her heels into the metal floor.

She felt movement and he was straddling her legs. Her pants were yank down to her thighs. She threw off Riddick's hands and rolled onto her stomach, not caring whether or not she hurt her chest. It did hurt a lot and she yelped, "Stop it!"

She pushed herself up to crawl away and take pressure off her injured flesh, but a thick arm snaked around her hips and yanked her back. Her bare ass pressed against thighs wearing pants.

"Riddick! I mean it! Stop it!" Her hand grabbed the hard arm around her hips and she tried to pry it away from her. Her hair was seized and her head was yanked painfully back. Her upper body was jerked upward and she was forced to stand upright on her knees.

"Rakka, are ya forgetting that I own your ass? You owe me for keeping those dumbfucks off you."

"Riddick, please…I don't…."

His voice hissing into her ear cut her off, "You don't? You don't want to? Fine." She was flung forward and she barely caught herself on her palms before she would have smashed her cut chest onto the harsh metal floor. "As soon as lockdown is over, your ass can go off with Buzz Saw."

"You wouldn't…"

She was slammed onto floor nearly knocking the air from her lungs. There was no air in her lungs to wail in pain as the raw cuts were grinded into the floor. For several moments she saw color dance in the blackness of her sight. She felt heavy weight on her body and Riddick's voice hissed into her ear, "You know by now that there ain't a FUCKIN' thing I won't do."

She shivered with fear. He meant it. He would allow her to be taken and raped. Twice before he had abandoned her, only once did he come back for her….her body. She was a fool. Deep down, she knew this from his words to her yesterday, but she had hoped, had an inkling of hope that maybe….maybe….what? That he was helping her because he cared. He didn't….he helped her before because of the baby and since there was no baby…..

"Alright…..I…..I'll do it." She whimpered from the physical and emotional pain.

Weight lifted off her body and her pants was yank further down to her calves. A thick arm went back around her waist and her hips were raised up and a rough hand slipped around her thighs and fingers started to stroke her clitoris.

She swallowed and tears spilled down her cheeks to form tiny pools on the floor. Her body began to react against her will. He was only stimulating her to get her wet enough for smooth penetration. There was nothing in it for her, there never was. Sure there had been kisses and caresses before, but…she realized now…..that it had been to get her to be more compliable.

A finger slipped inside of her, testing her wetness. She flinched knowing that Riddick's hands were dirty from eating and killing. She hoped she didn't get a disease. The finger was removed and she felt him shift behind her and then the jingle of a belt being unbuckled met her ears.

A hand touched her at the base of the neck and the shoulders and pushed her upper body downward. Her breasts were crushed against the cold floor and her cheek and ear met the floor also. She closed her eyes and felt thick heat enter her. She gritted her teeth as he thrust hard into her and her chest washed her mind with burning pain. This was the first time that she did not climax nor did she have an orgasm. There was no pleasure for her in it at all.

When he finished he withdrew from her body and stood. Rakka stretched her body out onto the floor letting the cool metal sooth her. She didn't know where he was, but she was sure that he wasn't going to help her stand. In fact, she didn't want him helping her with anything ever again. She pushed herself onto hands and knees and crawled carefully to where believed the toilet was. She surprised herself by nearly bumping into it.

She managed to seat herself on it. She grabbed a piece of jumpsuit cloth and wiped herself clean. She dropped it into the toilet like she would toilet paper and Riddick snapped out, "Don't flush the damn thing! Yer gonna clog the toilet and the damn things don't…."

"Shut up! And leave me the fuck alone! You already got your piece of ass for tonight, so shut up!" She yelled. She stood, pulled her pants up and flushed the toilet, not caring.

She touched the wall and guided herself back to her cot. Then she heard the sound of water dripping onto the floor. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes and listened to Riddick cuss.

She woke up to see the lights were on and somehow Riddick fixed the toilet. However, water was still puddle onto the floor.

"You got a mess to clean up." Riddick said across from her. He was sitting on his cot his facing her.

She stood and walked over to the jumpsuit pile. She grabbed a couple of strips and began mopping at the floor. When she finished, she piled the wet cloths onto the floor on the other side of the toilet.

She lay back down on her cot and turned to face the wall away from Riddick. It was nerve racking, doing nothing. She would have given anything for a book or a vid or a small puzzle game to keep her attention. All she could do was stare at the wall and hate Riddick.

Food came. As Riddick said a small slot opened at the bottom of the door and two trays filled with prison food entered the cell. She collected hers and Riddick collected his. They ate in silence.

After she finished eating she placed her tray on the floor and lay back down on the cot and dozed off. She awoke to see it was lights out already.

She waited for him and he did come. She gave him no protest while he settled her onto the floor and pulled down her pants and stimulated her. It was cold, so very cold despite his heat inside her and his warm body against hers.

She wanted to enjoy him, but….it just wouldn't happen for her. He had hurt and disappointed her so badly. If he would just kiss her, touch her, if he would just say something sweet to her….maybe….maybe…..

The next two days were like the first. She didn't speak to him and he didn't speak to her. They ate their meal in silence and at night she would offer no protest when he collected her debt to him. The raw open wounds on her chest had scabbed over and felt a little sore and rough.

On the morning of when they would be released from lockdown, she finally broke the deafening silence. "So what do you think Buzz Saw's gonna try to do?"

"Hell if I know. He had three days to plan somethin'."

"You better keep them from getting me, I paid you so got you keep your end."

"For all it did for me, I might as well cut a hole in a piece of steak and fuck it."

"Hey, you wanted it and you had it." She returned.

She sat on the cot and then suddenly with warning she burst into tears sobbing. The dam had broken and all her anxiety, stress, and fear poured out of her in tears. "I'm so scared. Of you and everything here. I…I don't want to be here."

"Who the hell does?" Riddick replied, his voice holding no sympathy or empathy at all.

"Riddick, you are planning on getting out of here. I remember you said that you escaped from Slams before."

"Yeah, but your arrival has really set my schedule back….by three days."

"You killed those men yourself. You could have just knocked them unconscious and just got in trouble for fighting."

"They'd just be back. Better to kill and sleep well, than let live and have trouble sleeping."

She supposed that was true. Less people for Buzz Saw to send. Her mind flew back to the dead bodies of Rolf and Chillingsworth. She had ended their lives, stopped their breathing and thinking. Why and when did she become so uncaring of human life?

The cell door opened and she swore that she could smell fresh air enter the cell. Riddick held up a hand halting her from standing. He stood and walked to the opening. He peered out and glanced around. He shifted his goggles back over his eyes and motioned for her to stand and follow.

They went to the courtyard and sat in their usual spot. She saw the girl from the meeting with Buzz Saw entering the courtyard. She wore her usual apparel from yesterday, pants with a cutoff tank top and many rings and silver knobs in her face. Her gloves were gone; her hands were thin and small.

She slinked into the courtyard with a seductive walk. The men were quiet watching her. Rakka held her breath waiting for the girl to be attacked. She watched the girl walk up to a man from behind. He didn't notice her for somereason, talking actively to a friend or business associate.

The girl grabbed his shoulders, yanked him back, and ripped his ear off with her teeth. Blood spurted from the side of his head while he screeched. The girl held the severed ear between her teeth and drew it into her mouth with a pink tongue and chewed. She swallowed and grinned at Rakkka and Riddick through blood coated lips.

Riddick had straightened and Rakka stared wide eyed as guards surrounded the girl. The injured man was drugged off while the guards beat and struggled with the hissing girl. She broke one's neck with a sharp kick before she was born into the floor. All Rakka could see was men kneeling and clubs and stun guns smacking onto the floor where the girl had been swamped.

When it was over, Agony's unconscious body was dragged to a gate that opened for the guards. Rakka watch the gate closed after them and she shivered with revulsion.

"A goddamn Eater." Riddick murmured.

"What?"

"Cannibal."

"Oh."


	32. Trust

She didn't feel like eating at meal time. Not after that scene in the court yard. Riddick's appetite wasn't hampered at all. He ate all of his meal and then encouraged her to eat. She shook her head and pushed it away.

Riddick shrugged his wide shoulders and caught a wrist that held a shiv aimed for his throat. Rakka yelped as she fell backwards of her seat as a man hauled her off it by her hair. Riddick lunge forward almost stepping on her hand and blocked a punch with a forearm and elbow the man behind in the nose. Blood spurted from his crushed nose and he stumbled back grasping his face.

Rakka huddled against the table and watched the fight with terror filled blue-violet eyes.

A man leapt off a table and clung to Riddick's back, trying to strangle him with an arm around his thick throat. Riddick, from somewhere on his person and stabbed the man in the eye over his shoulder with a shiv. He screamed and fell off the massive man's body; blood and clear liquid spilling from his socket.

Riddick round house kicked a man lunging with a shiv and swept back from a second attack. Then suddenly a smoking canister was flung into the cafeteria and gas began billowing into the room.

Rakka choked and gagged. It smelled horrible and it stung her lungs and eyes. She was hauled up bodily and was carried under an arm. She struggled, kicking her legs and elbowing a hard stomach, before she was whipped upward into two thick arms and realized Riddick was carrying her.

They made it out of the cafeteria to where waiting guards with clubs and stun guns took in custody any prisoners that exited the area. Riddick dropped to his knees to the floor and laced his hands on his head as several stun guns were aimed at him. She vomited on the floor, almost getting some on Riddick's pants.

When she finished, her arms were grabbed by two guard and they hauled her to her feet. Dustril appeared angry from the ring of guards. He approached Riddick and said, "Riddick, you haven't been out of lockdown for 4 hours and yer already causin' me grief. Warden ain't gonna be happy when he hears about this."

Riddick didn't reply, just returned Dustril's look with his goggles. Dustril turned to Rakka and walked over to her. He grabbed a handful of hair and forced her to look at him. "You know, it's probably this bitch that's been causing all the trouble around here."

He gave her hair a yank making her bite back a yelp. He removed a gun from his holster. He released her hair and checked the gun's ammo.

"Whattaya say, Riddick. How about I solve all the problems in this shithole by getting' rid of the source." He held the gun to her head. She yelped and struggled to get away. The guards yanked on her arms and strong hands held her shoulders keeping her still.

"Sure, solve my problem. Too many shits keep crawling up my ass to get at her." Riddick said.

"I mean it, punk. She's still in the books. We can hide the body where nobody will find it. She's in for life, just like you."

"No, please don't." She whispered.

"Go ahead." Riddick replied. "You'll be breaking a lot of hearts around here, but hey, no more fightin'."

"Okay."

He pulled the trigger and Rakka screamed. She screamed for a few moments before she realized that nothing happened. There was no bullet in her head and no explosion from the gun. Just a mere click.

Dustril and several other men started laughing as she was flung forward onto her stomach. She realized that there was tears in her cheeks and hastily wiped her eyes with her fingers.

"Get back to your cells. Lights out is going to be early today."

Rakka pushed herself to her feet as Riddick brushed past her, hands still on his head. Rakka shoved herself to her feet and trotted after Riddick. She nearly beat him to their cell down the hall. When he entered after her, she spun and tried to slap him. He caught her wrist and squeezed it. She whimpered as he bruised her wrist and she wrenched her hand free. She clutched it to her chest as if protecting it from further abuse.

"You bastard." She hissed with hate. "You would have let him kill me!"

"He wasn't gonna do a damn thing to ya." Riddick shoved her away and headed to his cot and sat down. "He was tryin' to get at ME."

"By scaring the fucking shit out me!" Rakka nearly screamed.

"Keep yer voice down and sit down." Riddick ordered.

"Is it going to be like this EVERYDAY?" She yelled as the cell door slid shut.

"What the hell you expect?" Riddick snapped. "This ain't civilization here."

"What if the guards separate us?" Rakka said gasping. "What if…what if they take you somewhere else and leave me here…..I…can't….oh, God, Riddick….I should have let Chillingsworth freeze me for all the good it did me killing him."

"I could kill you right now, be just as good."

She flopped onto her cot and said, "Sure, why not."

It happened in a flash. He was across the small room, a hand pulling her head back by the hair and the other hand holding a shiv to the artery in her throat. "Why not?"

She swallowed as de ja vu set in. This was how they first met in dark woods one rainy night. The light flicked off and she saw nothing, but felt everything around her and against her. What options did she have? Die and hopefully she's lived a good enough life to go somewhere pleasant or live and die one piece at a time in this godforsaken place. Riddick would be quick and make it painless.

She licked her lips and Riddick took the blade from her throat and released her hair. She felt his hand trail down her back and she stood abruptly to escape his touch. She bumped into Riddick's body and she flopped backward onto the cot.

"Riddick…..why are you doing this to me…..do you hate me that much?"

She felt breath on her face as the words blew into her face. "Honey, like I said one time…..if I really hated you…..you wouldn't be breathing…."

"You don't hate, yet nor do you love me…..how do you feel about me…..?"

"Do you hate me?"

"No…..sometimes I feel that I do…..the way you treat me…..should be against the law…..sometimes I think it is."

"Do you trust me?"

"Do you trust me?" Rakka returned.  
There was no answer. Rakka try to see his face through the darkness, but it was as if she had no eyes to see with. It was pitch black with a monster lurking in the darkness fearing the light.

"Riddick….you do trust me….right?"  
No answer.

"Riddick?"  
She reached out and touched a hard face with full lips. She placed her other hand on the same face and her fingers began to touch and feel the hard jaw, the stubbles around his lips and cheeks, the broad nose, and bald head. God, he even FELT sexy, he could make a blind girls lust for him if they could touch his face.

She leaned forward, fingers on his lips to guide her, to kiss him. A hand pushed her back and away from him before she could get close. She heard and felt him walk back to his cot.

"Riddick?"

No answer, but the shuffle of someone lying down on a cot.

"Riddick….you don't trust me…..even after everything we went through….together…..I….it's true….I don't mean anything more to you than that night in the woods."  
"Rakka." His voice carried through the darkness to her. "Because of all the shit I went through cuz of you….if I can turn back time to that night. With what I know now….I would have ran the other away when you showed up in the woods."

She looked out into the dark abyss, feeling her soul leaking out onto the floor. She felt very alone and lonely. "Aren't you….don't you want me tonight?"

"No. Go to sleep."

She curled onto her side on her cot. She didn't understand. The last three nights she hated it when Riddick touched her and used her…..now she wanted him. What was it about him that treated her emotions like a yo-yo. One second she hates him, another she loves him…..did she love him….she hoped not. Why did it hurt that he didn't trust her? Why should it bother her that she meant nothing to him? What did she expect? He was a cold hearted bastard…._who protected her and tried to save the baby._

She touched her belly where her baby used to be. Her little baby whom she would never hold in her arms. She closed her eyes to halt the tears that threatened to fall. She felt so alone in this hellish place. But she wasn't alone……

She rolled onto the floor. She crawled across the floor, not trusting herself to stand in this darkness. She reached up and touched a thick, hard arm.

"What is it?"

"I don't want to be alone." She pulled herself upward and onto him. His hard stomach lined with cotton greeted her fingers and shivers of delight flitted down her spine. She pushed the shirt up to touch the bare flesh and her head lowered to kiss and lick it. Her tongue dipped between the cobbles of his washboard stomach and she swore she could taste the hard muscle beneath the smooth skin. Her tongue flicked over a small nub and she realized that he had an outie navel. Funny how she never noticed it before, it was amazing at what you can discover without seeing. She flicked her tongue around it and trailed it lower.

She could hear Riddick drawing in deep breaths as her tongue met the top of his pants. She trailed her lips and tongue into the V of his hips as one hand struggled to undo his pants.

"I haven't seen this change of attitude since the Colony." She heard his murmur.

She stopped her actions and began thinking. She was pregnant then with full blown mood swings. Was she experiencing one now or was it stress related? Her mind went back to that horrible day when she was dragged into a clinic to abort her baby. Could she….was it it be…..?

"Riddick….I…might still be pregnant….."

"What?"

"It's like you say….I haven't acted like this since that day after you came back into my life. Remember, I made you breakfast, but you got me so mad, then I wanted sex, then I was depressed in a span of five minutes."

"Shit."

"No, it's possible. It was an intern that performed my abortion. He could have…messed it up somehow."

"They sterilized you, remember."

"Maybe….I don't know….maybe they did, but they didn't kill the baby I was already pregnant with." She removed her hand from Riddick's pants. "I could go to the infirmary and take a test…."

"If it comes out positive, they'll abort it again and get it right his time."

She swallowed and said, "I'll wait and see."

"Then what? You get big and they're really gonna know."

"Then you'll have to get me out before then."

"Fuck that!"

"What? I thought you were some sort of escape artist or some bullshit like that!"

"It took me almost a year to get out Butcher's Bay and that was me gettin' ME out. I ain't gonna get far with you draggin' your ass."

"Then why did you help me when I came here? You wanted a few good lays huh? I'll tell you what….I'll let you fuck me any and every way you want, but you have to get me out of here too."

"You don't know what the fuck yer sayin'."

"Yes, I do!"

"No, you fuckin' don't." She felt her wrist grabbed and she was hauled toward his upper body. She felt his breath on her face and he said, "Rakka, you think the shit you've seen and been through was bad….just wait….you haven't seen the worst."

She felt shivers trail down her spine at his indication.

"You may not realize it, but I've been treading thin ice with Dustril about you. Whattaya think gonna happen if I get put in the hole? Ya gonna have to fend for ya self till they cut me loose."

"If that's the case, why do you irritate him like you've been doing."

"Jeezus, yer green."

"I know I am! So why don't you help me understand.'

"If I started protectin' you in front of him, he'll try to use you to get at me! He already tried that with the gun trick earlier. If he wanted to….he can arrange for you to be in lockdown for a week with horny prisoner who don't know the word no."

"Guards can do that? I thought….."

"They tell ya one thing out in civilization and do different in the real world. Hold out your hand."

"Why?"

"Trust me."

She hesitated and said, "You're not going to hurt me, are you?"

"If I wanted to hurt you, then I wouldn't start with your hand."

She held out her hand. Something smooth, metal, and sharp was placed in her palm. She carefully curled her fingers around it.

"Careful, I sharpened that last night."

"Is this a knife?"

"Shiv, yeah. It's small and light, but you can easily rip someone a new one." There was a moment of silence and he said, "You killed two men before."

"Yeah, but the first time I was panicking and the second….I….."

"You acted like you should."

She swallowed. "I'm not happy that I killed him."

"You needed to. Wantin' and needin' is two different things. He didn't give you an option to back out."

"I know…."

"Another thing, whenever you're scared, act pissed."

"What?"

"Cuss at any motherfucker tryin' to mess with ya. Scream at 'em, throw things at 'em. Even threaten to rip off their dicks and shove them down their throats. You do that and sometimes you won't need a shiv."

"I don't know how…."

"I'll show you when the lights come on….."

"Why didn't you give this to me sooner?"

"You were so pissed at me, hell, I was afraid you would TRY to ghost me in my sleep."

"You do things to piss me off."

"You get pissed too easy."

"What about the baby?"

"Honestly, I DON'T want you to be pregnant, not in this place….but if there IS a baby…..I'll do what I can to get you out."

She found herself laying her head on his chest and closing her eyes. She and Riddick…..they would never be lovers…..never friends…..but….somehow, she felt that they were more than just sex partners now. She didn't know how it happened, but it did happen just now. Somehow that huge gap between them had been filled….just a little. As if there was a now truce between them.

"What do we do tomorrow?"

"I'll wake you up when the lights come back and show you some moves with a shiv."

"And then…?"

"Then pay Buzz Saw a visit."

She felt her blood chill. "I thought we wanted him to leave us alone! Why the hell do we want to go visit him!"

"Rakka, twice he sent dumb fucks to off me. If I don't do somethin' about it, then it's gonna get bad for us."

"You're going to go kill him, aren't you."

"Yeah." Riddick shifted slightly. "He ain't gonna leave us alone. We're makin' him look bad, makin' him look weak." She felt his hard hand grip her upper arm. "He needs you to reestablish his authority around here. If he can't take you away from one man, then he's gonna loose lot a respect."

"It's not just about sex, is it?" Rakka whispered.

"It may have been to start with, but since I stepped into it, it's became a power struggle between me and him."

"Has this ever happened to you before?" She asked.

"I stay out of politics when I can help it." Riddick let go of her arm and she felt him shift beneath her, he must be putting his hands behind his head. "Gotta keep fucking with me, thinkin' I want a piece when I don't."

"It's because you're so big and. . . powerful. They're. . .they're afraid of you because they know you could take it if you wanted it." She nuzzled his chest and whispered, "But what if something happens…you could get killed."

"I ain't gonna get killed."

"Riddick….please…." She felt the shiv being gently taken from her hand.

"Go over to your cot and sleep."

"I'll sleep here."

"Fine."

She pulled herself up and she was splayed across his chest. Her body rose and fell as his breathing expanded and deflated his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to his heart functioning and his lungs taking and releasing air.

She kissed his shoulder and slept to the white noise of him living.

* * *

She was jolted awake when he sat up from the cot. She sat on his lap for a few moments before he moved her off his lap and she was settled onto the floor. She sat on the floor squinting her eyes from the bright light over head.

"Get up, let's go." He swung his long legs off the cot and stood.

She stood and her shiv was pushed back into her hand. She studied it for the first time in light, it looked as if it was part of the wall. Jumpsuit clothes hand been wrapped and stitched together to form a safe handle. It was small, no longer than a pencil and as wide as an eating knife.

"Stand up." Riddick commanded, this time his voice a little harder than before.

She stood and Riddick took the knife from her and pulled her pants away from her hip. She twisted her body to see what he was doing, but he nudged her shoulder to lean to the side and give him room. When he was finished she saw that he had ripped some stitching from her pants and made a makeshift sheath for her shiv.

"See how this feels." He wrapped a jumpsuit cloth around the shiv and placed it into her pants. She shifted her leg and walked a little. She even lifted her leg up and stood on one foot. It felt a little uncomfortable, but it was something she would have to get use to.

"It's alright."

"Good, it'll stay there incase we need to run."

"What do I do if I need it?"

"For now act like you've been doing for the last two days we've been out. Do what I say and stay close. If you get into a tough spot, you wait until the fuckers are on top of you before you flash that shiv."

She inhaled and exhaled. "I…still don't know…"

"Lissen, I ain't expectin' ya to back me up. I don't need it, this is just in case one of 'em try for you." Riddick licked the corner of his mouth and said, "If you get hit and you fall, somebody is gonna try to kick you. Forget that rule about never kickin' 'em when they're down, cuz nobody follows that rule. You grab that fucker's foot and take him down and make sure that he falls on your shiv. Let's see if any other fuckers wanna try that after they see you waste one."

"And?"

"Vulnerable spots are the eyes and throat. If you see this huge, big fucker, don't waste energy hitting his stomach and chest, you try putting his eyes out or slitting his throat and he WILL backup. If someone grabs ya from behind and tries to strangle you, don't waste yourself by panicking and try to remove the arm or wire from your throat. Think and do something that WILL make the fucker wanna let go of you so's he can get away from you. Grab something and shove it into his eye. You saw me yesterday. I don't need to tell you about the dick area. Everybody knows that, and that's about yer only advantage to these dumb fucks. Someone kicks you in the crotch and what? Sure, it'll hurt ya, but it ain't gonna cripple ya. Try stabbing one unlucky fuck there and see how hard he hits the floor."

She felt overwhelmed. Riddick was feeding her so much information on self defense she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to remember everything. The cell door opened and she wanted to scream, 'no she wasn't ready'.

Riddick headed to the exit and she found herself following. She glanced around at the waking and leering prisoners. They went through the courtyard, but Riddick headed to route away from the cafeteria. A large man was at the entrance, leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall. Without being told, she knew he was a guard.

As Riddick approached, the man stepped forward bracing himself and muscles. "She can come in, but not you."

"I got somethin' to give 'im." Riddick indicated Rakka. "And he said there was somethin' in it for me if I bring 'er willingly."

The man studied Rakka and the Riddick. "Alright. C'mon."

The man turned and led the way down a set of stairs to another hall of cells. Rakka looked this way and that. It wasn't very much different from the hall she and Riddick occupied. But there were new faces around and new greedy leers for her.

"Fresh meat in on the menu!"

"Not until Buzz Saw gets done with her."

She swallowed and moved her hand close to her hip where her sheath brushed against her skin as she walked.

The man led them to an open cell and stood to the side. Inside were Buzz Saw and the bruised woman from before. She was sitting by his legs wearing nothing just a thin pair of stained panties. Rakka stared at the huge bruises on her body, both fresh and old. There was even bite marks on her breasts and there was a ring of dark bruises around her throat as if she had been strangled many times. The woman's face was turned downward, her curtain of hair hiding her face. Was this Rakka's fate if she was turned over to Buzz Saw?

"I see you decided to agree to my terms." Buzz Saw said with a thin smile.

"No, I just came by to tell you to call off your bitches." Riddick said. "They're annoying me."

"I will if you leave the woman here with me."

"Not gonna happen."

"You came here just to tell me to leave you alone?"

"No, I came to ghost yer ass."

Buzz Saw stood and other men entered the cell. Rakka looked around and noticed that they were surrounded. God, what was Riddick thinking?

"Riddick, I am a generous man, perhaps too generous. I will give you one more chance to change your mind. Walk out of my cell and leave my turf without the woman."

"Fuck you." Riddick replied.

It happened. She fell to the floor arms covering her head. She was stepped on and bled spurted to hit and stain her clothes. She managed to huddle against a cot. She heard Riddick grunt whenever he threw a hard punch, the rip of clothing and flesh, and chokes and screams of death. It was happening so fast that she was unable to keep up with Riddick's movements with her eyes. For a spilt second, she was insane with fear, awe, and anxiety.

Something clanged against the ground and she saw that it was a smoking gas canister. She opened her mouth to give Riddick warning, but the canister exploded and she suck in a mouthful of painful burning gas. She coughed, choked, and sputtered. She tried to make her way to the exit. She tripped over dead and wounded men and many times she slipped in wet blood on the floor.

She banged her shoulder on the frame of the cell doorway. Her upper arm was grabbed and she was hauled to her feet. She coughed into a face of a guard and she was shoved to the floor outside the cell where she vomited. A sharp kick to her ribs knocked her onto her side onto the floor and a male voice screamed at her to put her hands on her head.

She saw that many other prisoners were following the same routine. She saw Riddick being strapped to an upright gurney, much like the one on Colony 56. She wanted to shout out, but she didn't dare.

To her horror, she watched them wheel Riddick away . . . away from her. She shouted and a guard kicked her in her ribs again. He swung his foot back to kick again, but she remembered Riddick's words, she grabbed his boot as he kicked her again. He stumbled and fell against the wall. A stun gun was shoved into her shoulder and she screamed as pain flushed through her body.

She may have blacked out or she was in such pain she didn't know what was happening. She was grabbed and hauled back into Buzz Saw's cell. She could see Dustril speaking with Buzz Saw outside the cell, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. The guards that drugged her dropped her and walked out of the cell.

She could then figure out what was said when Buzz Saw entered the cell and the door shut behind him. Fuck, she was in lockdown with Buzz Saw….alone.


	33. Punish

She shoved herself to her feet, but she stumbled backwards and landed on the cot. Her shiv pressed almost painfully into her hip. Buzz Saw walked across the room, his eyes on her.

"Stay away from me, you sonofbitch." She hissed.

"Ah, you've been so quiet up to now and I liked that." He touched her face and she yanked her head away. Her hand edged toward her hip.

"We're in lockdown for the next two days. Let's make the….."

Her shiv was buried into his throat.

* * *

She stared at the body. A long trail of blood traveled from his throat and drained into the small hole in the middle of the cell. Her neck ached where he had tried to strangle her as he choked on his own blood. She had ripped out the shiv from his throat and shoved it into his eye. He had screamed and fell away. The shiv was still in his eye socket sticking up like a pole. 

She washed her hands in the toilet rinsing away the clinging blood. She was long over her disgust as using a toilet as a cleaning unit. She flushed it and the pinkish fluid was washed away. She glanced at the body and shuddered. Her third kill. She rested her head on the cool metal of the toilet.

She slept and woke up to see the body still there as a horrible reminder of her crimes. She studied the body and thought, 'what would her baby think of its mommy as a killer?' Just like daddy.

Where was Riddick? Probably in the hole. For how long though? If he was still in the hole tomorrow she would still be on her own with hundred men who've been leering at her since she got here and no doubt been fantasizing about her.

God. She wasn't like Riddick. She would be easily overpowered. What should she do? She eyed the shiv embedded in the corpse. She could slit her wrists and bleed to death. . .

God, what she was thinking? Yes, suicide would be preferable than being held down and brutally gang raped. Riddick might be out there. . .and if he wasn't? Dammit.

She didn't want to die. . .her baby. If. . .if it was still alive inside her then. . . she wanted to live.

She needed to do something that would scare the hell out of them. Something that would want them to stay the hell away from her. She glanced at the body with the shiv still in its eye socket. She wanted to vomit at the idea. No, no, she couldn't…..she had to. She had to….it was something she knew Riddick would do and would want her to do.

* * *

The cell door opened and she was ready. She approached the opening and nearly bumped into a man entering the cell. He caught her shoulders and was about to make a comment when he noticed the blood. 

She shoved him away and said, "Is Riddick out of the hole?"

He didn't reply.

"Answer me, dammit!" She nearly yelled.

"I don't know."

"Then find out! Cell 449! If he's there, bring him here! Tell him that Rakka wants him here."

"Jeezus! Lady, where's his head!"

"Right here." She held up Buzz Saw's decapitated head by the long hair. The man spun and vomited.

* * *

She was sitting on the cot, trying hard not to start screaming, the head by her ankles when Riddick entered the cell without hesitation. The other men were hovering around the entrance staring at the body and the head by her feet. 

"Jeezus, Rakka." Riddick murmured. "I gotta say, I'm impressed."

"It was a lot harder than they let on in the movies." She touched his arm smearing blood on his caramel skin. "Is there a shower….I need to bathe."

"Yeah, I'll take ya. Leave the head, word travels fast enough in a slam."

* * *

The showers were a box shape room with water gushing from shower heads dotting the ceiling. She and Riddick were naked as was required to enter the showers, luckily for Riddick the showers were dim enough for him to go without his goggles. There was five other men inside. 

Two were engaged in sexual activity; she looked away and kept her eyes to the wall. She felt eyes on her, but she kept hers toward the wall.

Riddick guided her to a corner on the far side of the shower room, a.k.a the Whore House. She faced the corner letting the water slosh over her. She felt Riddick standing close behind her, his back to hers.

God, he was protecting her, keeping any man that would try to harm her away from her. She reached behind her and touched his back in thanks. Sure, word may travel fast in a Slam like he said, but you never know if there was someone stupid enough to try.

She didn't think she could do it again. No, she would never do that again, cutting off a dead man's head to prove to an entire prison not to fuck with her. She pumped some soap from a dispenser and scrubbed off the blood from her arms and shoulders.

She felt that Riddick was proud of her. In some sick way, she was proud of herself too. She scrubbed her hair needing to pump more soap to get it all lathered. It took a while, but she managed to rinse her hair till it squeaked cleaned.

She turned to face Riddick's bare back and she mechanically lathered some soap between her hands and smeared the lather onto his back. He shifted forward and glanced at over his shoulder. She concentrated on her task smearing the soap of his spine to his shoulders. She had to keep doing something or she would start screaming.

He leaned back and pumped a handful of soap and soaped his front. She could reach only as high as the back of his neck. She lathered the soap downwards to his lower back. Another time she would have been thoroughly aroused, but now….she just needed something to do to keep her mind off the decapitated body. Yet, it couldn't prevent her from admiring his physique.

She slopped the soap over his tight ass and down his thighs. If Riddick was aroused, she didn't want to do anything about it now, later they would. She slipped the soap down to his ankles and she contemplated tapping his ankle and having him lift his foot so she could wash the bottom of his foot when he stepped back.

He nudged her to the front and allowed him to rinse. She kept watch while he rinsed. She got a few curious glances, but there were no threats or signs of promise violence. He finished quickly and they made their way to the drying room.

It was narrow passage with fans that blew hot air onto their bodies till they were dry. Rakka's hair was tangled and very much resembled a rat's net, but it was clean and that was enough.

Twenty minutes later they were on their way back to their cell. Dustril approached Riddick. Things were said, she didn't know what, and she wasn't listening. Riddick grabbed her arm and tugged her along with him. They were leaving Dustril and he had an angry look in his face…..she would worry about that later…she was just too damn tired.

As soon as they entered their cell she went directly to her cot and curled up on it. She closed her eyes to sleep, she was so tired, but she was afraid of nightmares……fresh new nightmares…..

She felt Riddick seat beside her. "Tell me."

"What?" She kept her eyes closed.

"You know what I'm fuckin' talkin' about. What happened in that cell?"

"He tried."

"Did he…?"

"I killed him before he could touch me."

"Good."

She nodded her head not caring whether or not he could see her nod. "I was afraid. I saw them take you away…..I didn't know whether or not you would be here to keep me safe from the others. I…had to cut off the head…..I had to scare them…the way you told me….I…" Her voice was cracking against her will.

"Save it for later. Right now, cryin' ain't a good idea. After lights out you kin cry all you want. Hungry?"

"I don't think I could eat a damn thing." She replied. "I am just so tired."

"Yeah, sleep. I'll watch."

"Thanks." She murmured before sleep claimed her.

Thankfully, when she awoke, she couldn't remember her dreams. Maybe she didn't dream after all? Riddick was sitting at her side where he had been while she slept.

"Riddick, how long have I been asleep?"

"Three hours."

"I'm sorry, you didn't need to…"

"Yeah, I did. Had to break a few arms to keep 'em from tryin' their luck with you."

She felt cold. "What happened with Dustril? I remember you spoke with him, but I don't think I heard what was said. He looked mad."

"He wanted me to take Buzz Saw's place."

"I don't understand?"

"I see it all the time in Slams. Second in command makes a deal with the top dog in Slam. Top Dog keeps the peace and screw the prisoners over for cigs and UDs, and Dustril gives him privileges. I don't play that game."

"Oh." She sat up.

"You got the shiv?"

"Yes."

"Lemme see.'

She removed it from her hip sheath and gave it to him. He inspected the ruined blade and shook his head, "Bent, blade's dull…it'll take me an hour to fix."

"A human spine is hard to cut with that." Rakka commented.

"If I known you needed something a little tougher, I'da given you this." He showed her a longer and stronger looking shiv he happened to have somewhere on his person.

"That would have made the job easier." She choked back a sobbing laugh. How could they be talking about what proper shiv to use to cut off a man's head so calmly?"  
"Do you regret what you did….killin' him?"

She swallowed. "No. I'm not one of those liberals who believe violence solves nothing. The man's intent was to hurt me. I did….what I needed to do to save myself….and hopefully the baby."

"Still think yer pregnant?"

"I…I think I am. I can't explain it, but I just feel it."

The cell shut slammed shut. She jumped startled. "I thought it was too soon."

"Early lights out due to Buzz Saw's…."

"Oh." She felt the tears come. "I…Oh god….I was scared….I was so fuckin' scared…."

"Who the fuck wouldn't be?"

"You wouldn't be!"

"When I talk about everybody, I don't include myself." He leaned toward her. "You already killed before."

"I know, but this is different, so different. I planned it. I actually planned on what I was going to do. The others….I was in a panic. Rolf, the boy….he was on top of me….I grabbed whatever I could into my hands and shoved it into him…..Chillingsworth….I only wanted him to get the gun away. When he looked away, I hit him then I remembered that he still held his gun. I shot. I shot the bastard. I did it in a heart beat. But this time….this time….I PLANNED IT! I thought…just a little closer and I'll shove this into his throat. A little closer. He died slow, Riddick. So slow."

She turned to him and ran a hand up his chest. "Riddick, please, I just want to forget it."

"You can't forget somethin' like that."

"But…."

"It stays with you until you don't care anymore, but you never forget it."

"Do you remember every man you've killed?"

"Sweetheart, my brain ain't big enough to remember all the poor fucks who tried to fuck around with me."

"How do you deal with it?"

He shifted. She knew she was touching on personal ground with him. "You deal with it the best way you can. But remembered you've killed for the right reason. You protected yourself."

"And the baby…"

"If there is a baby."

She was silent for a moment and she wanted to say something which was quickly forgotten for that the lights flicked off. They sat in the darkness for a full minute.

Rakka leaned forward and touched his shoulder, she may never be able to forget the killing, but there was a way she could forget it for a moment. "You have a sexy ass."

She felt him lean back and chuckle. "C'mere."  
For the first time, she was on top. During their stroking and petting, he pulled her atop of him. She felt him undo her pants and she fumbled for his. She shifted allowing him to shove her pants to her ankles and straddled his thighs.

She lowered herself onto him and inhaled as her body took him inside. His hands firmly on her hips guided her as she moved atop him. She braced herself by leaning her weight forward, hands on his chest, her long hair curling on his chest.

God, his arms were so long and large. He curled one around to her lower back and the other to her shoulder guiding her. His rough hands on her body gave her that small edge to climax early, before his. She rode him till moments later he climaxed.

She lifted herself off him and curled at his side. "Thank you."

"Hey, I didn't do it just for you. I liked it too."

"You know what I mean."

"Do I?"

She began to slowly realize why she loved Riddick so much.

* * *

The next few days were uneventful, but it was different. Men no longer ask Riddick to rent her for ten minutes. She got very few leers and more respectful looks. She was known as the Bitch who Cut off Buzz Saw's Head. 

She saw the abused woman again. She had been claimed by another man so quickly. She saw her in a cafeteria seated beside a large man with more fat than muscle. She was eating her meal and his thick beefy arm was around her shoulders as he talked with a fellow inmate. Rakka could tell that she was being treated better for that there was a light….not bright, but it was there while she ate.

She still carried the shiv at her hip. Riddick repaired it and sharpened it for her. He told her that he better not catch her trying to saw anymore limbs off people with that blade. She didn't know whether he was being serious or he was joking.

She kept watching her stomach and her appetite. She hadn't been vomiting like she believed she should if she was pregnant. She tried talking to Riddick about it, but he avoided the topic or tossed it aside.

"Darlin', if you were pregnant, really pregnant, you would have miscarried it by now from all the stress and prison food."

She didn't know what to say. She held onto the hope that she was pregnant. She had to be. She couldn't loose her baby. She couldn't.

Riddick started allowing her to stay by herself in the cell. His and her reps had grew and whenever they walked down the hall, the men with scoot into their cells or pressed themselves to the walls. Whenever someone walked near their cell, they would walk a wide ring away from it.

The scabs on her chest had healed and fallen off. Riddick's name was no londer etched into her flesh. . .it became her flesh. Distorted skin lined his name, and it was still well been by all. At least, it didn't hurt anymore.

During lights out, they shared each other. They had the best sex within the obsidian curtain within their cell. For a short while. Rakka had the glimpse of feeling at home, though how brief that it was.

* * *

Riddick would leave at times. Where? She didn't know, she supposed it was because he planning their escape. She would get mixed feelings whenever she thought of escaping. For one moment she was excited and happy about it, knowing it would get them away from fear, and the restrains of the slam. However, she felt fear at the thought, knowing that there would be killing and shooting, and there was a chance that she or Riddick or both of them could be killed. 

She was washing the jumpsuit strips in the toilet which became her chore after she moved in with him.

She heard a scrap of a boot on metal behind her. "Riddick, back so soon?"

There was no answer. She consciously checked her shiv which had remained at her hip since that day. She looked over her shoulder to see the cannibal girl, Agony. She was bruised and had several scrapes on her body, and looked as if she hadn't eaten since the day she was taken away by the gaurds, but she still looked dangerous. She had a shiv in her hand.

"Get the hell out!" Rakka stood and turned to the girl. Show no fear, show only anger. Where is Riddick? "Get the fuck out now!"

"No." Agony replied and stepped closer. "Heard what you did to Buzz. Nice. Too bad it wasn't me that did it."

Rakka didn't know whether she wanted to be the one who cut off Buzz Saw's head or wanted her head cut off. She didn't care, she waited with bated breath. If the girl came closer, closer, she would go for her shiv, but the girl already had a shiv in hand. What to do? Where was Riddick?

The girl kept coming closer till she was within arm's length of Rakka. She gave Rakka a whimsical smile and struck with her shiv. Rakka fell back against the toilet, her hand groping her hip for her shiv. Agony grabbed her shoulder and wrenched her close. Rakka ripped her shiv from her pants, but then. . . the pain was intense and she screamed as the shiv pierced her side.

She shoved Agony away and fell onto her side, her mind screaming, _"Get up, get up!"_

She screamed as the shiv sunk into her back. _I'm going to die, I'm going to die. _She pushed her upper body up on her arms, then the pain seemed to throw her belly down onto the floor. Where was Riddick? Riddick! Riddick, please come help me. Thankfully, the darkness claimed her.

Agony licked her blade cleaned. She enjoyed a kill, she loved killing…..and she loved eating. She knelt beside the unconscious bleeding woman and ran a finger through the pooling blood on the floor and sucked it off her finger. Sweet. She bent her head to lap at the bleeding wound on Rakka's back.

She swallowed a mouthful of blood and before she could get another, she was seized from behind and the last she heard was a crack as her neck was broken.

Riddick tossed aside Agony's body and knelt by Rakka. He turned her onto her back and lightly shook her. "Rakka, Rakka. Wake up, dammit."

She opened her eyes hazily. Her face was pale and sweaty. "Riddick …hurts….it hurts…."

"I know, I know." He grabbed several jumpsuit pieces and began packing them against her side and back. He put enough pressure to bruise the flesh around the wounds, and then something caught his eye. He picked up Agony's shiv and noticed that the tip was gone. "Shit!" He laid her on her back. "Stay here. Don't go asleep. I'll be back."

"Riddick, no." She whispered as he stood. Tears pool within her eyes and slipped down her cheeks. She was afraid to be alone now. She reached out a hand toward the empty cell way. "Don't leave me. . . I. . .I'm. . . scared."

He came back minutes later with the old man in tow. It was the same man who used to be cellmate before she came. He was carrying his small bag with him and he looked agitated and bleary eye as if he was rudely shaken awake.

"Shit." The old man said when he inspected Rakka's wounds. "Agony tore her up good."

"Can you patch her?"

"Yeah, I could, but….I'll need to get the tip out. It ain't gonna be easy. I ain't got any transfusion blood nor do I have anything to knock her out with. Her best chances would be to go to the infirmary."

"Riddick….baby….the baby….Please….no, they'll…" Rakka murmured before she passed out.

"Baby? Don't fuckin' tell me she's knocked up!" The Doc said. "Jeezus! Ya gotta be kiddin' me."

"She THINKS she's pregnant." Riddick snapped. "What CAN you do?"

"I can fix her side, but if the shiv tip is still inside, it's gonna hafta come out." The Doc replied inspecting the wound. "I ain't got the tools to do anything for it. Like I said, her best chances are with the infirmary. I kin do what I can, but it ain't gonna be much and she may end up worst off than she is now."

Riddick was silent, deep in thought.

"Ya gotta make your choice now. She's loosin' blood, this keeps up and there's gonna be NOTHING I kin do for 'er."

"Move." Riddick knelt and the Doc shifted away. Riddick lifted Rakka into his arms. He left the cell and headed down the hall toward the gate.

"What the hell you doing?" A guard greeted him aiming a stun gun at him.

"Infirmary." Riddick replied lifting Rakka up slightly as if offering her to the guard.

The guard viewed Rakka's blood dripping off Riddick's elbow and dotting the floor and said, "Your doing?" Riddick glared at him through his goggles and didn't say a word. The guard spoke a few words into a com at his wrist and a few moments later more guards came with a portable gurney.

"Set her on the ground and get back to your cell." The guard ordered.

Riddick laid her on the floor and took several steps back, but not leaving. Several guards kept their guns on him as the gate opened and they entered. Two lifted Rakka onto the gurney and strapped her onto it.

They took her away. Riddick watch them go and then turned and went back to the cell.

* * *

She woke up several times, seeing bright lights, faces that were forgotten as soon as they left her vision. She threw up and that was all she could remember….and the pain….she remembered the pain and the fear. 

When she finally awoke and could stay awake and coherent, she found herself in a small room that resembled a hospital. She tried to move, but her wrists were cuffed to the bed. She was wearing a thin gown made of a delicate paper material. She shifted her weight and winced at the pain on her side and back. She groaned and shifted her weight to get more comfortable.

The room had that strong antiseptic smell that was always associated with hospitals. The walls were painted white and the bed she was on was comfortable. She was so use to sleeping on the hard cot in the cell that it felt very strange to her.

She tensed her body when she remembered the girl who attacked her. She glanced around as if the girl was there with her. She saw no one and then she was able to relax. How she had survived, she didn't know.

Her baby….She swallowed hoping that her baby was alright. Oh, god. . .now it was making sense. The girl attacked her and she was taken to the slam's infirmary. They must have saved her life. . .then they must have found out about the baby. Oh, god, was she still pregnant? Or have they aborted and sterilized her?

The door slide open and a man in a white coat entered carrying a datapad in hand. "Hello, Rakka Laotaner, how are you feeling?"

"Sore." She replied nervously. "How long have I been here?"

"You've been in the infirmary for four days on this planet's time."

That was still a long time. "Am I going to be alright?"

The doctor typed at his datapad for a second and replied, "Yes, you and your baby should recover nicely. It's amazing! This is the first time I seen a pregnancy survive an abortion attempt and sterilization. Either that's a tough kid you got there or the intern really botched it."

She felt numb for a second. So she was pregnant. She always knew, but to hear it confirmed by a doctor put more weight on the truth. And that he was putting it in a positive light . .what did that mean? Shouldn't he be telling he that he was going to have to perform an abortion? She forced herself to smile. "Yes, thank you." She touched her chest and noticed the gauze over the spot where Riddick had engraved his name. "What's this?"

"We had that removed. It should heal nicely, won't leave a scar at all."

"Oh." What would Riddick think? She hoped he didn't want to put his name back on.

"You have a visitor."

"You allow visitors in a Slam's infirmary?"

"This is a special kind."

"Who?"

"You'll see."

"No, tell me. I don't want anymore surprises."

"I believe that he was a political leader, but he was removed from office due to his recent stroke."

Rakka felt her heart leap into her throat. "No, no, that….that can't…."

"He'll be with you within an hour." The doctor checked information on nearby consoles not noticing her distress.

"No, I…what about the baby? Aren't you going to try to abort it?"

"Not right now."

She swallowed. "I don't want to abort my pregnancy."

"We'll see."

"No, you won't do it at all.'

The doctor didn't reply as he recorded information into the datapad.

"Do you hear me?" Her voice started to get high with panic.

"The CareTaker will be with you shortly." He left despite her protests.

She yelled with frustration. She wanted Riddick. Was he alright? Was he still back at the cell? Would she be going back to him soon? What in the world did the CareTaker want with her? Revenge, of course, she killed his son. He was going to punish her personally.

She yanked on her straps causing herself pain and more frustration. She needed to get away. She could take anymore….was it possible her situation can get possibly worse?

The door slid open and a man in an electric wheel chair entered the room. The wheels on the chair made a soft whirr sound as he traveled across the hard floor. On the chair was a black screen, turned to face her. Behind him entered two men wearing black, body guards no doubt.

She sat up the best she could with her arms trapped in the restraints and the soreness in her body. The man was thin and his white hair was combed neatly combed and he wore a tailored suit. He looked very much out of place in the godsaken prison.

"I have nothing to say to you." Rakka said between her teeth. She recognized him from vids calling her a murderer and a traitor. Thank God her mother was asleep when broadcast was played.

The screen flicked on and words appeared on the screen. I SEE THAT YOU ARE ANGRY.

She stared at the screen for a second. Then it replied, I AM HAVING DIFFICULTIES SPEAKING DUE TO MY RECENT STROKE.

"Yes, I am angry. You put me here, though I'm not here for killing your son, your actions have really….fucked up my life!"

I AM HERE TO MAKE AMENDS.

"Forget it! I fell for that tune once before and it got me HERE."

I AM WILLING TO GET YOU AND YOUR BABY, MY GRANDCHILD, OUT OF HERE.

Rakka stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

I KNOW OF THE CHILD. MY SON, ROLF'S CHILD.

Rakka stared at him for a few moments longer then it hit her. The CareTaker believed that Rolf had actually raped her and got her pregnant. She swallowed, should she tell him the truth or let him believe.

"Yes, I am pregnant."

I HAVE AN OFFER.

"What kind of offer?"

I WILL GET YOU OUT. SEND YOU TO A COLONY PLANET. IT'S A PLANET THAT'S JUST BEEN DISCOVERED. IT'S BEYOND THE HELION SYSTEM AND VERY, VERY FAR AWAY FROM THE GREEN SYSTEM. YOU CAN RAISE THE CHILD THERE.

"You're doing this for the baby."

YES, IF YOU WEREN'T PREGNANT…..I WOULD HAVE MANY TERRIBLE THINGS DONE TO YOU.

Rakka shivered and said, "What about my life sentence here?"

IT WOULD BE SAID THAT YOU DIED FROM YOUR INJURIES.

Riddick….. should she….leave him? She had always thought, since they first met that dark night, that when they parted ways….he would be the one to leave her, not the other way around.

"What if I….refuse…..wanted to stay here?"  
THEN THE CHILD SHALL BE ABORTED. I DON'T WANT MY GRANDCHILD BEING BORN IN A HELLHOLE.

Neither did she. She swallowed bile in her throat. "I need time to think."

YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES.

Her baby….Riddick….she was having to choose between them. She closed her eyes, and said, "I…..Can I say goodbye to one of the inmates….?"

NO.

"I'll go."

* * *

"She's dead. She died this morning." Dustril happily delivered the news to Riddick. 

Riddick showed no reaction. He was sitting on the cot within the cell, leaning forward and his hands hanging between his knees.

"Hey, did ya hear me….your bitch is dead. Go get Big Ed's cunt."

No reaction or acknowledgement that Riddick heard him.

Dustril waited a few moments, disappointed from lack of emotion. "I'm sure that she fuckin' loved you too."

He left leaving an air of irritation after him. The Doc came in moments later. "I heard."

Nothing.

"Look, sorry, if they couldn't save 'er, then you sure as hell know there wasn't shit I could do for 'er."

No reply.

"Think of it like this…..you were the tough guy around here that looked after her. Now she's with a real Tough Guy that'll look out for her."

"You're in my cell."

"I came to get paid. I did look at the bitch, didn't I?"

Riddick stood. He didn't face him or make any threatening gestures, but he still towered over the small old man. The Doc backed away and stammered, "Shit, I'm sorry, but I gotta get paid. I can't give freebies jes cuz she's dead."

"Get out."

"Dammit, I…."

"Get out."

"Fine, but I'll be back…."

* * *

Within an apartment offered by the warden, the CareTaker wheeled himself into a small office. It was dark, but it was fine. He only needed to confirm with someone. His digital communicator attached to his chair's monitor was activated as he made a solar communication to the planet Echo. 

It was few moments later as the signal was picked up and a face appeared on his monitor's screen. The man was old and he was chewing on a cigar, and he also looked very heavy set man. How he became a priest of a Hitomian temple was something he could figure out.

The priest puffed on his cigar and said, "Did ya do it?"

The CareTaker sent his reply that would appear on the priest's monitor.

The priest nodded, "Good. We'll be sending the evidence back toya. Now no one will ever know exactly what ya did to attain the seat of power within the Green System. But don't think we can't dig it back up."

The CareTaker nodded his head and sent a question.

"That's for us to know and for you not to worry about. Rakka no longer concerns you. Consider her a bad memory, which we KNOW you will be to her, if you know what we mean." The priest took another puff on his cigar and said, "And also, we're gonna review any test results she may receive further on, to make sure that she is pregnant. We want to make sure that the intern you paid off did his part and not make the abortion successful."

The CareTaker assured him that he did and that the test results from the Slam's infirmary confirmed her pregnancy.

"Slam's infirmary results aren't reliable. We'll trust our doctors, thank you."

CareTaker had to ask and so he did.

The priest sighed and said, "Lissen, you better be glad that we ain't broadcasting this shit all over the Green System by now cuz of all the damn questions. Not your business to know why we need her pregnant. Let's just say we think it's wrong to force a woman into having an abortion and let's leave it at that. Also, this will be the last time you will be able to contact me by this signal. Tomorrow, you'll receive your evidence to do with as you want."

The priest signed off.

* * *

The Doc never got paid. That night, Riddick evaded lights out and escaped from Red Hades. He killed 70 guards including Dustril who tried to prevent him from taking a ship. Riddick hot wired the ship and used the missiles to blow open a hole in the hanger to fly from. He nearly crashed into a departing ship which carried a pregnant Rakka on her way to a new chapter of her life.

He went back to UV6 where two years later, he was hunted by Toombs and he discovered that there was huge bounty on him from someone on New Mecca. He would meet up with old friends, both of whom would die. He would escape from another Triple Max Slam, outrun a sunrise of death, kill a squadron of Necromongers, kill the Lord Marshal and be accepted as the new Lord Marshal of the most powerful army in the universe.

Meanwhile……..


	34. Roland

"Roland…Roland if it's a boy and…." Rakka chewed her bottom lip trying to think of a girl name she liked.

Three days ago, the shuttle provided by the CareTaker dropped her off at a small space colony station where a ship, the Usher, would take her and hundreds of families to the new planet. She was left with only the clothes on her back and thousand UDs in her name. She bought new clothes and toiletries at the local stores on the station and rented out a room the hotel. She was very careful about how she spent her money since she didn't know what kind of job she could get on a colony, especially since she was expecting. She shopped wisely and bought only what she believed she would need.

She spent a week on the station, watching the news where she discovered that Riddick had escape from Red Hell. She cried after she saw it. She felt guilt knowing that Riddick believed she was dead. He must have upped his escape time and she prayed, yes she prayed, something she hadn't done in a long time that Riddick would go to a place and be safe. She never thought she would ever hear herself pray for him.

She spent the rest of the week looking out the window to watch the families moving onto the station where they were designated rooms to await for the ship. There was a day or a night where she couldn't hear a baby crying, kids arguing and playing, or parents yelling at their children.

She had a prescription for pain medication for her injuries. They were healing well and thanks to modern technology that the CareTaker provided for her, no scars would be left. There was nothing, but smooth skin where Riddick had etched his name into her flesh. She often ran her finger below her neck and thought about him.

At the end of the week, she was packing her suitcase to go to her new home; she would have to be on the Usher in an hour. Arrangements had been made for her and other expecting mothers to be placed in special cryo units. A feeding tube would be inserted into her mouth to allow the baby to get the necessary nutrients to allow it to grow. The journey was three months and when she woke she would be in her second trimester. So she went ahead and purchased some maternity clothes.

Rakka finished packing and took slow deep breaths. She was terrified. She wanted Riddick……nonononono.

She choked back a sob. She made the right choice. Riddick would have agreed to her decision. He was probably relieved when word was out that she had died. He didn't have to watch out for her anymore. Yeah, that's right. He was happier without her and she was happier without him.

She wiped away a tear that slid down her cheek as she lifted her suitcase.

Terry stood patiently with his family as the docking began in alphabetical order. He was 23 years old and had silvery blonde hair tied back into a ponytail and bright blue eyes. He closely resembled his father who was sitting on a bench with his mother. His sister's family was close by. Alia was married to Houston and had two children Erik, age 12 and Yilna, age 5.

Alia had wanted them to come with her to the new colony being formed. She said that they needed families to populate the planet and strong men to work the mines and farm. Terry applied and he and Alia managed to get strings pull so their parents were accepted into the program.

* * *

"Terry, did you see where Erik went?" Alia asked him.

"Huh? He's not with you?"

"Sorry, he must have slipped off. He said he wanted to see if the ship had guns. I would get Houston, but he's double checking everything with Information. You know him."

"Jeez. I'll get him." Terry set his things on the ground. "Watch my stuff."

"Hurry back! It's going to be our turn soon."

Terry weaved through the crowd, brushing between talking adults and dodging impatient children as he made his way up the docking station. He stumbled over a lost toy and clashed against a woman. She fell to the ground, her suitcase clattering to the ground. He fell to his knees and instantly shoved himself to his feet.

"Jeez, I'm sorry, ma'am." He helped her stand. She was slim and was inches shorter than him. She had long copperish blonde hair tied back into a long ponytail. He halted when he saw her eyes. They were the most shocking color of purple he had ever seen in an eye color. The irises were large, with there being more color than white which was common in all Hitomians, but he never seen one with such eyes. "Excuse, but are you Hitomian."

"Yes." She said nervously as she collected her suitcase.

She turned to leave, but he stopped her. "Wait, I'm sorry for knocking you down, my name is…."

"I have to go." She blurted and shrugged her arm from his hand and hastily walked away.

He watched her go. He couldn't help, but notice that she was alone. No man, no children, not even elderly or any who could be her siblings. A single woman on a colony voyage to populate a planet? He supposed it was possible if there were more men than woman going, thus to even it out they allowed single women onto the ship.

"I saw you!" He heard a high voice.

He whirled to see Erik grinning at him while he made his way through the crowd. "Where have you been?"

"Looking at the ship. I saw you flirting. And she was Hitomian! You can't get enough of them!"

Terry grinned sheepishly. It was true; he did have a weak spot for Hitomian women.

* * *

Rakka didn't want to be rude and she didn't mean to be. She simply didn't want to draw attention to herself. She hurried to where she would be allowed to enter the ship and be prepared for cryo. She was nervous about it; her feelings about cryo didn't change since her time with Toombs.

She was allowed entry and with other expectant mothers was led to a special area of the ship for medical staff. They were explained the procedure and there were even demonstrations. Afterwards, they were assigned cryo units.

"Don't worry." A nurse assured the mothers as they were led to their designated units. "We have special scanners that are going to be constantly watching your child. If there is any problem at all, it will automatically awaken a staff of expert doctors to help you and your baby."

It made Rakka feel a little better knowing that. She put her things into a special slot beneath the cryo unit and lowered herself into the tube. It was bigger than the one Toombs had, but then again he wasn't planning on carting pregnant women.

A feeding tube was prepared to be inserted after she was under. A nurse spoke to her while she was settled into the cryo unit. "Don't worry. It's going to be like traveling in time. When you wake up, your stomach is going to be round so it will feel unusual at first, but you'll quickly get use to it."

* * *

As Rakka was drawn down into cryo sleep she swore she saw something she would not remember when she awoke from cryo. It was so faint, fainter than a dream. She was standing on what was once a grassy plain, but was now a barren land and she was surrounded by graves….hundreds of graves. A woman was there with her. She had long dark brown hair and wore warrior garment. A long thin sword hung at her hip, but for some reason Rakka did not feel threatened.

_who_ _are you_

The woman reached out with a thin hand toward Rakka's belly.

_wait,_ _what are you doing _

She felt cool warmth slide through her belly into the core where her growing child slept. The woman removed her hand, but glowing through Rakka's shirt was a silvery imprint of a hand. It pulsed as a heartbeat, her child's heartbeat.

**_FURYAN_**

_yes, his father is riddick_ _who is a furyan_

How did she suddenly know that her child was a boy?

**_ROLAND_**

_yes, that's his name_

**_WELCOME TO THIS SIDE OF THE PLAINS….ROLAND_**

Was this woman speaking to her child all along?

Suddenly, the hill was gone along with the woman and Rakka was pulled back into deep sleep of cryo. She didn't remember the dream until many years later.

* * *

"Welcome back. Did you sleep well?"

Rakka opened her eyes, and then closed them to go back to sleep.

"Now, now. Come on, you have wake up now."

Rakka felt herself being pulled upward away from the comfort of padded cryo. She felt heavy and awkward and she shifted uncomfortable as hands arranged her into a chair.

"How to you feel? Any nausea?" A light shone rudely into her eyes. She winced with a small 'ah' and raised a hand to block it. Her eyes focused and she saw a man in doctor's uniform.

"Can you hear me?"

"Y…yes….I'm just so tired."

"It's normal. Your body went through change without your mind. You may feel fatigue for the next few days, but that should pass. What do you remember? Any memory loss?"

Rakka thought and said, "I don't think so. Except…..did I meet a woman before I went into cryo?"

"The nurse?"

"No….I can't remember."

"That's normal too. A little memory loss can be a slight side effect of cryo."

Rakka leaned forward and then stopped. She looked at what had once been her flat stomach was now rounded outward. She stared at it and touched it. It felt firm to her finger tips. She lifted her shirt and looked at her swollen belly. She expected to see something else there, but she didn't know what.

"Would you like to hear your baby's heartbeat?" The doctor asked. "And possibly see if it's a he or a she?"

"Yes, I would like to hear his heartbeat." She pushed her shirt back down over her rounded belly.  
"His? You expect a boy?"

She nodded. She didn't know why or how, but she already knew the baby was a boy. A nurse helped her walk to a different room. It felt so awkward having to walk with new weight added onto her body. She looked around and saw other expectant mothers having the same problem as her with extra weight that seemed to appear out of nowhere. There were even some bigger bellies than hers and the mothers couldn't even get out of their cryo units. She was helped to recline on an examination table while the doctor prepared the equipment.

Her shirt was lifted and clear cream was smeared onto her rounded belly. The doctor placed a padded handle on her skin and moved it over until something showed up on the monitor.

It was black and white, and was moving.

"There he is. You were right, it's a boy."

Rakka stared at Roland on the small screen and jumped when a speaker made a bumping sound. "Is that his heart?"

"Yes, good and strong." The doctor noted some information down into a datapad. "He's growing as he should and he's healthy. And it looks like he has plenty of energy. I think he's going to be a pain in the ribs for you in your third trimester."

"Just like his father…."

"Sorry?"

"Nothing, I….when is he due?"

"The Spring of this planet."

"Oh."

* * *

When she was confidant she could walk without falling on her ass, she made her way toward her assigned room. It was large for that it was meant for a family, not one pregnant woman. She checked her side and back. The wounds had healed completely in cryo and caused her no more pain. And as the doctors predicted there were no scars, or signs that she had ever had any injuries.

She felt her stomach bubble, her baby demanding sustenance. She placed her hands on her rounded belly and said, "You're going to be as demanding as Riddick, huh?"

Terry ate his meal while Alia scolded Yilna for shouting or whatever the five year old did. He was a bit drowsy from cryo, even though they were woken up three hours ago. The doctors recommended that they eat solid food and go to their cabins and sleep until their bodies were able to catch up with their lost time.

"Hey, uncle Terry, there goes your girlfriend!" Erik pointed. "And you knocked her up!"

"ERIK!" Alia snapped. "I do not want to hear those words in that term again!"

"What? It's not cussing!"  
"I don't care! That is a derogatory term toward pregnant women and I do NOT want to hear them come out of your mouth again!"

"Jeez!" Erik mumbled as he went back to his meal.

Terry watched the woman get her meal from the dispensers. Indeed, her stomach was rounded outward in that little swell that denotes pregnancy, not fat. So she did have a man with her somewhere. He couldn't help, but feel a bit disappointed.

The woman went and sat by herself at a table. He couldn't help it. He watched waiting for her to greet a man and eat her meal with someone. No one came and she ate in silence alone.

* * *

Rakka finished her meal and went back to her room. She slept the rest of the day and much of the next day. The doctor told her it was normal to sleep a lot after cryo with her pregnancy. As long as she ate plenty it would be fine.

Whenever she went to the cafeteria to eat, she would feel eyes on her. And then whispers of the only single pregnant mother on board the Usher. There were rude remarks and pitying whispers. She sat by herself and ate alone ignoring them. She had lot of practice in the slam at ignoring others' comments.

Riddick wouldn't have minded and so she shouldn't either. Riddick….what would he think? How would he feel about this? She didn't want to think of him….he was now truly out of her life, like she wanted for so long….but it hurt. It hurt her so much. The guilt weighed on her mind…."

She wanted so badly to see him….She did, on the news. He had escaped from Red Hades shortly after she left. She wasn't holding him back….he could go where he pleased now. She felt glad….and a little sad.

"Can I sit here?"

She looked up from her meal to see a man with long pale blonde hair and blue eyes standing near her table.

"Sure." She said without thinking.

"My name is Terry."

"Rakka Laotaner."

"Whoa, a last name."

"Huh?"

"It nothing." He sat down across from her. "Where I come from my family was one of the little people who didn't get a family name."

"Oh."

"Part of why we're coming to the colony. You know better life, more opportunities, and freedom. We'll be there in few days."

"Yes." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She knew what this man wanted and she wasn't interested. The last time she tried to start a relationship, the man was a machine.

"Are you going by yourself or is someone already on the colony waiting for you?"

She swallowed. That was so damn personal. Tell him to fuck off or give him brutal truth. Brutal truth seemed more polite also as powerful as a fuck off. "I'm alone and no one is waiting for me on the colony. If you really want to know, then I got pregnant by a man who is….right now….in a Slam."

Terry was quiet for a moment and said, "Geez, I'm sorry. Damn, I didn't….I didn't mean to pry…"

"You did pry and I am not interested in starting anything with anybody because I am going to be so busy raising my child so he doesn't end up like his father."

She stood and left cafeteria, leaving her meal unfinished and Terry at the table. She started down the hall toward her room and she realized she was being followed. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Terry following her, trying to catch up. Her first instinct was to run, but she was scared she would trip and hurt Roland. She did what she knew Riddick would do, stood her ground.

"What do you want?" Rakka hissed. "You already ruined my meal!"  
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't want it to end like it did there. I'm sorry."

"Then go away!"

"Do you need any help?"

"NO! What do you want? Want me to apologize to you for being rude, then I'm sorry! You want me to thank you for being interested in me despite me being pregnant, then thank you. Now. Go. Away!"

"I…geez! I just wanted to be friends….and my mother and sister wanted to offer you any of my nephew and nieces old baby things if you needed any."

Rakka felt her world drop around her. Her hot anger melted into a flood of guilt and embarrassment. "I…Sorry….gee…uh….well…I….so…hmm." What the hell does someone say in this situation? She wanted to just disappear or turn and run into her room and lock the door and pretend that this wasn't happening.

"I'll go away. At least accept the baby things, please don't hurt my family's feelings too, okay?"

He turned to leave. She watched him walk away and started after him. She caught his arm and found her voice. "I'm so sorry."

He stopped and turned to look at her. She let go of his arm and inhaled. "I…I'm sorry for treating you like that. I…just came from a place where men….treated women very badly. I…I'm paranoid, afraid, and pregnant. I'm not trying to use my pregnancy as an excuse to act like a bitch, but….I'm trying to look out for my baby as well as myself. I'm sorry I acted that way toward you and I would like to accept your family's very kind offer."

He looked at her for a moment and then smiled showing off white teeth. "Sure. Wanna meet them?"

* * *

"Hey, Mom, this is Rakka Laotaner." Terry had taken her to a crowded part of the cafeteria where his family was eating.

The old woman looked up with fading blue eyes and smile warmly. "Hello, I'm Gaia."

"Hello. Thank you for the clothes." Rakka said nervously. She prayed the old woman hadn't seen the scene between her and Terry in the cafeteria.

"Please, sit down." The woman encouraged motioning toward a vacant seat. "It's not good to be on your feet in your condition. Terry, be a gentleman and offer her a seat."

Terry obediently pulled a chair from the table for her. Rakka shyly took the seat and clasped her hands on her lap. "Thank you, but I really shouldn't stay long. I…I have to get ready to move to the House when the ship lands."

The colony was compiled of several Houses which were actually large buildings to be homes for the colonies. They would each house 4-5 familes and were designed as apartments with two-three bedrooms for each family.

"Oh, yes, that's tomorrow. What House will you be living in?"

"House 22."

"Why that's the House we'll be living at too. We'll be neighbors."

Rakka offered a shy smile. She wasn't sure whether she was happy about that or not, but she forced herself to act happy. "That will be nice."

"Oh, here comes Alia and her children."

Soon enough a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes approached the table. She wore an ankle length skirt and a loose blouse. She held the hand of a little girl in a little sundress and behind her slouch a preteen boy wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

The boy saw her and gave Terry a wink. Rakka glanced over her shoulder at Terry who sheepishly looked away.

The little girl stared at Rakka's stomach and pointed, "You're gonna have a bebi!"

Rakka looked at her swelled stomach and nodded with a smile. "Yes, I'm having a little boy. His name is going to be Roland."

"Kin I feel 'im kick?" The little girl patted Rakka's stomach.

"Yilna! Stop that! Rakka doesn't want you touching her stomach without asking first!" Alia yanked her daughter away by the arm.

"It's alright, I don't mind." Rakka assured her. "I'm afraid he's too small to start kicking yet, but when he does, I'll let you know so you can feel him kick, okay?"

"Kay!"

"That's very nice of you, miss…?" Alia started.

"Rakka Laotaner."

"Laotaner." Alia smiled warmly at her. "Roland, that's a very nice name. I wished I had thought of it when I pregnant with Erik."

"Awwhhh, Mooouuuummmm." Erik moaned.

"Don't 'aw mom' me, Erik." Alia turned to her son.

"But you say that EVERYTIME someone is havin' a baby!"

"Erik!"

Rakka bit back a smile. God, when was the last time she been around 'normal' people. People who meant her well and didn't want her raped, frozen, killed, sold, and pregnant with some savior.

She felt her blood turn cold. She had completely forgotten about the Hitomians' prophecy. She clutched her stomach tightly. She glanced around as if she could see Hitomians around her eyeing her stomach as if she was going to give birth at any moment.

"Rakka, you're face is pale. Did Yilna hurt you?" Terry asked touching her shoulder.

"I'm fine, just tired. I really need to go back to my room now." Rakka moved to stand. She felt breathless with the sudden fright.

"Oh, we apologize for keeping you." Gaia said touching Rakka's wrist. Her hand felt cool and it brought Rakka back to her senses and gave her a sense of calm.

"Oh no, it's fine." Rakka shook her head. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Terry, please walk Rakka back to her room." Gaia said to her son.

"No, no, it's alright. I can make it by myself."

"Nonsense, Terry can walk you back to your room." Gaia insisted. "Women in your condition need to be looked after more."

Five minutes later found her walking side by side with Terry. She walked in silence and so did he. He opened his mouth to say a few things, but there wasn't much he could say. What exactly to do you say to a beautiful woman who was impregnated by another man who obviously didn't want to start anything with you?

"Roland….that's a nice name." He managed to say.

"Thank you." She replied.

Another moment of long silence.

"Listen, I want to apologize for what happened earlier." He tried. "I should never have asked you such a personal question."

"It's alright, I over reacted." Rakka replied. "I know it doesn't look very good being pregnant and the father no where in sight."

Terry swallowed. He wanted so much to ask about the father, like where is he? Why isn't he here with you? Does he know you're pregnant? Do you want him around to be a father? Was he abusive toward you? Did you love him? But he knew better. It was something Rakka wouldn't want to talk about and it was no business of his.

"This is it." Rakka said touching her door.

"Oh." He stopped as she opened it.

"Thank you." Rakka said. She licked her lips and said, "I want to apologize again for treating you badly earlier."

"No, no, let's just forget that it happened and start fresh, okay?" Terry offered her a smile.

Rakka looked at him and gave him a sad smile. "I know what you want….but….I can't. I just can't."

She walked through the door and closed it behind her. Terry stared at it. A part of him wanted to be angry and another part was disappointed. Who was he fooling? No way would he want a woman carrying another man's baby. No way.

Yet, he made plans inside his mind to invite her against to dine with him and his family.

* * *

Rakka started a bath, anything to calm her nerves. She felt emotional exhausted after the ruckus she made with Terry and the uneasiness of meeting his family, and the sudden fright she received when she remembered that the Hitomians may want her baby. She eased herself into the warm water. The water did it job and began soothing her fears and nerves. What if the Hitomians on Echo found out she was pregnant? Would they come to take her baby? She clutched her rounded belly with fear for her unborn.

She wished Riddick was here with her. The pain wracked her chest at the memory of him. She hugged herself as if to block the sweet memories of him. The Slam was horrible, but things between them…..had….She didn't know. It was better not to know.

She touched her chest. His name was gone; the patch of skin the doctor removed had healed over. It was now only a pale patch on her skin, but that will fade too, taking away any and all sign that Riddick's name had ever been engraved into her flesh. Any sign that she had ever met a convicted man named Riddick.

Save for one. Her hands stroked her rounded belly lovingly.

The House was built like a dome. It had one entrance with several emergency escapes around it. Its front was fashioned as a large patio with several tables and chairs for any optional outside meals. The House was divided into four quarters, one for each family.

Terry's family got the first quarter, and Rakka received the second. The third family was the Niala family from New Mecca. The father was Hugo Niala who was a merchant hoping to start up a new business within the colony. His wife Sarabi Niala was a housewife and was busy caring for her three children. Tirana age 14, Ador age 10, and baby Rala age 7 months. Rakka liked them instantly when she met them on the inauguration day, where the families met the families they'll be sharing a House with. They were nice as Terry's family and she felt very comfortable having Gaia, Alia, and Sarabi as veteran mothers giving her advice.

She decided to be happy about sharing the House with Terry's family. They were good people that seemed to take to her instantly. It would be good not to be alone and have friends. She needed to forget the betrayals of the past and learn to trust again. Which was much harder than it seemed inside her head.

The third family however….wasn't so nice.

It consisted of a father, mother, and a single a year and half old boy. The father was Nathan Young. He was tall almost six feet. Tattoos laced up his arms and his face was grizzled while his breath reeked from alcohol. Rakka was never offended by tattoos, but she was offended whenever she felt his eyes on her. They were no different than the leers and smug looks on the inmates faces within Red Hades. She could imagine whatever dirty fantasies he's having behind his brown eyes. (Did she have to wear a sign that said I DON'T WANT ANYMORE MEN CLIMBING ON ME to get men to leave her alone?)

His girlfriend, they were not married, was Rita Langol from Earth, New York. Rakka never met anyone from the Home Planet….and she wasn't very impressed. The shorter woman wore too much makeup, wore her blouse with the neckline too low showing off a full bosom and if she wasn't wearing skin tight pants, she was wearing a too short skirt. She was always flirting with men, even married men like Hugo and Houston, and throwing jealous looks at Alia, and Sarabi. She never missed a beat at commenting on Rakka's lack of a man around, either disguised in politeness or crudeness.

The child wasn't any better. He screamed, threw tantrums, threw toys and whatever he could get his hands on when he was in the mood to throw stuff, and he also bites. He used curse words continuously whenever he felt that he wasn't given enough attention. What was worse was that Rita let him get away with it and was annoyed whenever she was forced to play the part of mother to Nathan Jr.

At first, Rakka worried about making her money last. She had over 700 UDs left from her time on the station and she needed to make it last till she received a job. But she had to eat and satisfy her cravings. However, much to her relief, the House held a rule saying that the families had to pay a fourth of all utility bills including food. Thus Rakka was able to save up and save more of her money than she had believed she was able too.

* * *

Three weeks after moving in, Rakka was in the central dining area of the House with Alia and Sarabi who became good friends and mother mentors to her.

"Are you sure you want me to help? I can help, you know." She called from the table.

"Naw, we're fine." Sarabi assured her from the stove. "Not good for you to be on your feet all the time."

"I'm not into my third trimester yet." Rakka assured her.

"But you're getting there." Alia replied her from the sink where she was washing and peeling potatoes.

Rakka did feel more comfortable sitting than standing. She was starting to get the back pains and fatigue.

Sarabi hummed a Chrislam song softly to herself. Her family were dedicated Chrislims and on Sundays they attended a small building in construction, the church, for services. Her dark tresses were tied back and plaited down her back. "Did you know that Terry got the job?"

"Really?" Rakka said softly.

"Yes." Alia said. "He just called got through with the interview. They hired him right on the spot."

Sarabi turned to her and smiled. "He'll be working as a technician starting next week. He'll bring in good money."

Rakka swallowed and knew what Sarabi was hinting at. For some unfathomable reason, Alia, Gaia, and Sarabi had united in a front to match make her and Terry together. Rakka had kept her distance from Terry, consorting with him in strict politeness and was careful not to give him any thoughts of them being anything more than friends.

"I'm sure that he's proud." Rakka said softly.

"Rakka." Alia said. "Didn't you tell me last week about how you were worried that you wouldn't have enough money to buy all the things you'll need when you have Roland?"

Rakka silently groaned. One thing she was glad about giving birth on a colony was that the insurance and any hospital bills were prepaid. Another thing they pay for was formula for six months, several packs of diapers, and a complimentary bottle and little stuff bear. It was colony and women were encouraged to have babies to populate the planet.

However, they would cover the crib, baby food, bottles, clothes, powder, wipes, more diapers that she may need, little baby tub, hover seat, and toys. Alia and Gaia donated clothes and Sarabi offered her a few bottles. And Rakka knew better than to expect anything from Rita.

She was sure things would get better after she was able to get a job that would allow her to care for Roland after he is born. So far, nobody is interested in hiring a woman that wouldn't be available to work in several months. Her best bet would be stingy with her money until she is fit enough to work.

However, Alia and Sarabi believed that she should become like them. Get married and become a housewife. Alia, on her home planet, use to head a few family groups. PTA, a daycare, and helped out with the local school for several funraiser and whatnot. Sarabi had been a contented housewife on New Mecca.

She had nothing against Terry. He was a nice person and she was sure he would make a woman out there happy, but she felt that he wasn't for her. She didn't know or understand her reasoning. She knew that long ago, before she killed Rolf and went through hell with Riddick, she would have fallen head over hills for Terry. He was handsome and kind to others, and had a charisma that glowed. Her thought trailed to Riddick and she knew that he wouldn't like Terry.

The door opened and Rita appeared in the doorway wearing a nightie, in the middle of the day. Rita had a habit of sleeping all day and going out all night. She came home drunk, horny, and pissed about something Nathan or Nathan Jr. had done. . "Is tha food ready?" She was puffing on a cigarette and blowing smoke into the kitchen.

Sarabi glared at Rita. "Put that out! You know that Rakka is pregnant and can't be around cigarette smoke!"

"Fine, whatever." Rita snorted and held her cigarette out the doorway, but that didn't help very much. "When tha hell is the food gonna be ready?"

"Soon." Alia said. "If you'd help, it'd be ready sooner."

"Why ain't she helpin'?" Rita hooked a thumb toward Rakka.

"She's pregnant, as you should already know, Rita." Sarabi replied coolly. "She gets back pains and she gets tired easily."

Rita snorted. "Excuses, excuses."

Rakka chewed her bottom lip. Rita was trying to bait her. God only knows why, but for some reason, Rita had taken an instant dislike to Rakka when they met. So many times, Rakka wanted to say something back, insult Rita's uptake or her attitude, but she didn't want to be the one to start trouble. She had to live here too and she rather raise Roland in a stable environment than have him in the middle of a feud.

"Lemme know when it's done." Rita fortunately left, taking her cigarette with her.

"We ought not to cook for her. Let her do her own cooking for her family or send out for something." Alia said bitterly. "I haven't seen that woman so much as enter this kitchen to do anything else, but eat."

"Rakka, she has it out for you, for some reason." Sarabi said uneasily.

"I know, but I don't know why. I haven't done anything to her." Rakka replied.

"I better go get the kids up." Alia said wiping her hands on towel. "It'll take me a good ten minutes to pry Erik from his video games."

"My Tirana will take twenty minutes to get out of the bathroom. She's going through that stage that if she leaves her room with so much as a hair out of place, she'll die." Sarabi assured her. "Rakka, will you be alright alone?"

"Yes, I'll be fine."

"Call if you need anything."

The two mothers left to gather their children for lunch and the soon to be mother was alone with her unborn child. She tapped her fingers on the table bored. Her belly gurgles as Roland demanded sustenance and that was about the only entertainment she had the door opened. She lifted her head to see Nathan enter carrying Little Nathan under his arm. He plopped the squirming toddler into a high chair placed near the table.

"Feed the kid." He ordered her.

Rakka felt her anger rise at being ordered around. She wanted to say 'he's your kid, you feed him', but swallowed it back. She stood and went to the cabinet to grab a box of cereal and a small bowl. She set a bowl of cereal in front of Little Nathan and watched him dig in with both hands.

Nathan had gotten himself a beer can and leaned against the counter, watching her over his can. Rakka coolly sat down and monitored any bits of cereal that Little Nathan may drop on the floor. She then forced herself to be very interested in inspecting her nails and refused to meet Nathan's eyes. She started when he seated himself close beside her.

"Ya know, you look kinda hot for a knocked up chick." He said and she felt fingers stroke the base of her neck.

"Don't touch me." She snapped and shifted away. "What's Rita, your girlfriend, going to think?"

Nathan huffed and replied, "That bitch is startin' to sag. She's 35."

Rakka stared at him. "She's 35 years old! She said she was 24."

"Bitch been in and out of cosmetic surgery so much that I don't think she's got a body part that's real." He sipped from his beer can.

"Should you be talking that way about your son's mother in front of him?" Rakka motioned toward Little Nathan munching on cereal.

"I ain't sure that that's my kid, ya know." Nathan mumbled. "Bitch announced she was pregnant around the same time I was leaving her, ya know. Said she was gonna sue for child support if I left her. Cunt."

Rakka shifted uncomfortable.

"So, you got pregnant to keep the man and he had balls enough to walk out anyway?" Nathan asked.

She glared at him. "No, in fact, I walked out on HIM."

"No shit!" Nathan looked impressed. "What he slapped you and shit?"

"No, he never hit me." Rakka wondered why in the hell she was telling Nathan about her past. This was more than she ever let on since that scene between her and Terry on the User. "You can hurt a person without ever having to lay a finger on them."

"Fuck around on ya, huh?"

"Yeah, but that's not why I left him." Rakka looked at him. "I left him for my baby's sake." She got to her feet. "I have to go. I…I said too much…"

"Hell, no problem, sugar."

She headed to the door and opened it. Terry was there in the doorway staring at her. He was wearing an old business suit; he must have come back from his job interview. His hair was still tied back in his usual ponytail, except it was slicked back from his face for his interview. She stared back, not sure why he had such a strange hurtful look in his eyes.

"Terry, what's wrong?" She asked.

"It's nothing." He shook his head.

"Well, lunch is almost ready. I'm going to lie down for a bit." Rakka said as she past him. "Be sure to tell Alia and Sarabi where I'll be."

"Sure, Rakka, I will." He watched her go and turned to Nathan. "Got any coffee?"

"Yeah, man." Nathan pointed to a pot on the far counter.

"Thanks." Terry helped himself to a mug. He regarded Nathan over his mug. Why in the world would Rakka confide in Nathan about her mystery man? Nathan had done nothing, but irritate her with unwanted comments and lustful glances. Terry had been nothing, but a gentle and patience man to her; he offered to take her out on dates, which she politely turned down. He performed small favors for her whenever he could and she hadn't budge from her uptight view of their relationship.

"Rakka musta been a fine piece of ass before she got knocked up." Nathan commented. "Even with her belly big, I wouldn't mind gettin' a piece."

Terry slammed his mug down. "Jeezus, ya gotta talk that way in front of your kid!" He really wanted to punch Nathan in the face right now.

"Hey buddy, don't hide behind a kid. Who the fuck doesn't knowing you been settin' stake on her pussy since you fuckin' got here."

"You're disgusting!"

"And you're a fuckin' idiot. Wantin' a woman knocked up with another fucker's kid. Fuck her, but don't goddamn marry 'er and get tied down, shit. Them ladies are crazy as hell."

"Leave her alone. And you get Rita to leave her alone too." Terry warned.

"Fine, we're gonna go soon anyway."

Terry eyebrows arched. "Where?"

"None of your business. Rita and me got shit to work out somewhere else. We're leaving the kid." He motioned toward Little Nathan who had bits of cereal stuck his face.

"You're leaving your son? For how long?"

"As long as we need to."

* * *

Rita and Nathan left that night. They didn't say where they were going or when they'll be back. They took their things and left their only child behind. Little Nathan kept demanding his mama and screamed and cussed whenever he was denied her. He was taken in by Alia since she had more room in her apartments and they didn't think that Rakka should be expected to look after such a rambunctious child in her "condition".

Rakka felt sorry for the child, but she couldn't help but feel a huge weight being lifted off her shoulders. Rita wasn't there to bait her and Nathan with his lust wasn't there to threaten her.

Terry was still there, but she didn't feel threatened by him. She kept her distance from him. She wasn't ready; she just wasn't ready to move on. She wasn't willing to move on to that part of her life and into something which may sink her deeper into he inky blackness that she felt herself sinking into everyday. Her only lifeline was Roland, her unborn child.

Was she hoping that Riddick would walk through the door and be there for her? She didn't know what she wanted. Riddick wouldn't be a good father. He just wouldn't be. He even admitted it himself. Still….it was there…..what was there….? She didn't know and it made her cry if she thought too much about it.

* * *

"Why do you shut me out?"

Rakka looked up startled. She had been having family dinner with Terry's family and the Niala's. Somehow, time had slipped away on her and she realized she was alone at the table with Terry. The others must have finished their meals and excused themselves without her noticing. She later suspected it was Alia and Sarabi's machinations.

"I'm sorry?"

"Why do you shut me out?"

Rakka looked at her half eaten food. "I don't shut you out."

"Pardon my language, but bullshit." Terry shifted in his chair. "You avoid me and don't talk to me, jeez! You had more to say to Nathan last month before he left."

Rakka prodded her meal with a fork. "I don't know what to say, Terry. I guess I have nothing to say to you."

"Let me ask you a question. You can answer it or tell me to mind my own business if you want." Terry swallowed and said, "Are you waiting for the baby's father to come for you?"

Rakka looked up at him. Her mouth moved to form the word yes, then she froze. Was she really waiting for Riddick, holding out for him? She knew he would never come, he thought she was dead. And how would he ever be able to find her. If he ever did discover she was alive….he would be furious….wouldn't he?

"I…it's none of you business." She took the coward's way out. She knew Riddick wouldn't approve, but dammit, she was pregnant. She was allowed exceptions.

Terry was quiet and then said, "Then lets go out tomorrow night. They finally set up a theater in the New Town. We'll catch a movie and maybe dinner."

"Terry, that's nice of you, but….I can't."

"Why not? Please, you owe me that at least. Are you in love with the baby's father?"

She looked at her cold meal. She loved Riddick, but she was in love with him? "I don't know." She looked fiercely at him. How dare he ask her such personal questions and force her to face things she would rather not. "And let me ask YOU a question. Why are you so interested in me? I'm pregnant, remember. Look at me!" She hands patted her ever growing belly. "Why would you want a woman carrying another man's baby?"

"I don't know. I like you a lot. You're beautiful, smart, and independent…."

She scoffed cutting him off. "I'm not independent, dammit. I've made a LOT of foolish mistakes that I needed bailing out of by….people. Jeez, so much shit happens to me…."

"But you're willing to admit you made a mistake and you learn from them. You try to be independent and that means a lot. I've seen you searching through ads trying to find a job."

"Nobody wants to hire a single pregnant woman who's gonna need a lot of free time taking care of her baby." Rakka admitted. "I'm so overwhelmed. I know this baby is going to be a lot of work…. Probably more than I know."

"Don't worry. We're all here to help you." He reached out and touched her hand. "You're not alone."

"But, what if something happens and I'm alone again." Rakka murmured softly. "I…..I have to be ready for when that happens."

"You don't expect us to be there?"

"I…you don't understand. Things happen. You think it won't happen, but it does before you know it. And it empties you and leaves you picking up the pieces. If I'm ready, then….I won't be so hurt."

"I didn't mean to make you cry."

"I'm crying?" She touched her cheek and she felt wetness.

"If you marry me then I promise you'll never cry again."

She stared at him. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"Jeez, I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from."

"Damn straight you better be sorry." She shoved her hand away from his and pushed herself to her feet. "Dammit, I…I don't need this shit. And I don't need you so fuck off!"

"Dammit, jeezus, I only…"

"No, no, I don't want to hear it, so leave me alone and stay the hell away from me, you got that!"

"Lady, you got real trust issues, you know that."

She flipped him off before she waddled through the door and to her apartment. She took a detour toward Sarabi's apartment where she knew Alia and Sarabi was playing cards. She politely knocked and entered when she heard Sarabi's greeting. She saw her two friends at their usual card table, but they froze when that saw her red face and tear stained cheeks.

"Rakka, what happened between you and Terry?" Alia said starting to stand.

Rakka held up a hand and said, "I have something to say and I need to say it. I love you two, you've been the closest friends I ever had and I want us to continue being friends. But I am begging you to stop trying to match me and Terry together. I know you're doing it out of love and concern, but please, please, stop. I…I can't…have another man in my life. I already have Roland." She touched her stomach. "And that's enough. I need no one else."

The two women stared at her and then Sarabi nodded. "Yes, we understand. We'll stop."

"Thank you." Rakka choked. "I…have to go lie down now."

* * *

Terry never asked her out again. He avoided her as much as she did, if not more so. Alia, Sarabi, and Gaia also gave up their attempts at pairing the two together. Months passed and it was in the spring during her last week of pregnancy that the day came that really changed her life.

Her stomach had swollen into a huge and uncomfortable ball. As Riddick was hell bent on escaping Slams, it seemed that Roland, his son, was hell bent on escaping her womb. The doctor was right to say that she would have a tough time in her third trimester. Roland kicked often and hard. He would wiggle whenever Rakka dared to try sleeping on her side. Of course, Yilna was thrilled to feel life within a life move. Rakka would let her feel Roland kick whenever he was energetic enough.

It was on this particular day, that Rakka was alone in the House. Nialas have a family/business dinner to attend to and Houston had saved up enough to take his family and Little Nathan to the movies. Alia had wanted Rakka to come with them.

"Look, you're in your last week. That baby can be born practically any minute now." Alia said trying to convince her to come with them.

"I'll be fine. I've already made preparations with the clinic and I have an emergency dialup with me at all times. Don't worry. Chances are that this baby won't be born until the end of this week."

Rakka was in her nesting mode that all mothers go through during the end of pregnancy. She was determined to clean her apartment before Roland was born. She was vacuuming the best she could in her condition when she heard the thump as if something fell to the floor in the other room.

She turned off the vacuum and listened. She heard footsteps in Alia's apartment. She set the vacuum aside and entered the hallway. The door to Alia's apartment was opened. Did they come home early?

She wanted to call out, but her instinct, which she developed in the slam, told her otherwise. She quietly made her way toward the door and looked in through the crack. A large shape was digging through drawers and tossing things aside.

"Fuck." The figured snarled in frustration as it slammed a drawer shut loud enough to make her wince.

The figure started to head in her direction. Rakka tried to move, but her bulky belly prevented her from quick movements. For some strange reason she felt light headed.

The door nearly banged into her as Nathan shoved it open. He stopped when he heard her yelp and turned. "Jeezus, you got big."

She pushed the door away from her and said, "Why were you in Alia and Houston's room and going through their things?"

"None of yer fuckin's business, slut." His breath reeked. He had been drinking.

"If you took anything that belongs to them, I'm calling the authorities."

"You fuckin' touch that com and I'll wring your goddamn neck." He snarled. "I don't care if ya are about to pop."

Rakka swallowed. "Get out of here now."

"Make me."

Rakka was afraid. What was she to do being so close to term? This man was drunk enough to hurt her and Roland. "Look, just take what you want and get the hell out!"

"Okay." He slammed her into the wall his face inches away.

She slapped him and clawed his face. He yelled and released her holding his bleeding cheek. She shoved past him and made her way toward the stairs as fast as she could. She practically scooted herself down the stairs as she heard him thumping after her.

She clutched her belly as she nearly fell and caught herself on a chair. She felt Nathan almost upon her and she flung the chair at his legs. He fell to the floor and Rakka scuttled forward and prayed that he broke his leg.

She got to the door and burst through it. She stumbled across the patio and Nathan burst through the door enraged. His shoes clattered on the cobbled patio behind her. A hand grabbed a fistful of hair and nearly broke her neck yanking her backwards. She screamed as she was struck across the face and her arms hugged around her belly protecting her baby.

A gunshot emanated into her ears and blue electricity was shot through Nathan's body making him scream and convulsed. Luckily, he released her hair before the charge could harm her. He crumpled into a smoking heap as Rakka dropped into a chair, exhausted and still frightened. She wasn't the only one, Roland, who had been sleeping peacefully inside her, started kicking and squirming.

She ran her hands over her belly and spoke to him softly trying to sooth him. Her blue-violet eyes landed on a man stepping onto the patio. He walked into the lamppost's lights and Rakka felt her blood turn into ice water inside her veins.

"Hiya, sugar, you let yourself go." Toombs stepped into the light of lamppost while holstering his stun gun. Rakka stared in deep shock. At that moment, she felt her first contraction.

She sucked in air and exhaled slowly as the high pitch pain rolled through. It faded and she manage to say, "Toombs, why are you here?"

"Bounty." He nudged Nathan with a boot. "Old Nathan here used to run special errands for some people. He ain't much, but hell, gotta make a livin'."

Some more men walked onto the patio. One knelt over Nathan cuffed his hands behind his back. They lifted him up and carried him away to a waiting hover. Toombs pulled up a chair and sat down next to Rakka.

"Care to tell me where Riddick is?" Toombs asked.

"I don't know. Last time I heard he was in Red Hades." Rakka replied coolly. Another contraction rolled through and she sucked in air.

"You don't look so good."

She exhaled as the contraction soon left. "I…it's nothing. I don't know where he is. We separated."

"Listen, bitch, I ain't in the mood."

"I'm not in the mood either." Rakka hissed. "This kid has been kicking me, leaning on my ribs, not letting me get comfortable to sleep, my back's been killing me, sitting down and getting up had been hell, I haven't seen my feet in so long I forgot what they look like. I'm going to go through several hours of intense pain giving birth where they are going to either clip my vagina open or it'll rip when the head comes through. You want to fuck around, be my guess."

"Damn, yer attitude hasn't changed." Toombs commented. "Still a bitch."

"And you're still an asshole."

"You got guts now. I like it."

"I don't know where Riddick is, so take Nathan and go."

"Hey, I jes saved yer ass. Coulda let 'em beat the kid out of ya, ya know?" Toombs scratched his chin and said, "It's Riddick's kid, ain't it?"  
She stiffened. "Prove it. Riddick isn't the only man I've been around."

"Yeah, right."

"Leave my baby alone." She hissed. "Or…or I'll tell the authorities of what happened on Echo."

"The whole kidnapping bit? I'd like to know how the hell you got away."

She shrugged. "I had friends."  
"The hell you did."

"Toombs, please, I don't know where Riddick is…okay? I can't help you find him."

"Sure, sugar, whatever you say." Toombs leaned back.

"Toombs!" A voice shouted from the hover. "Get yer ass over here? We gotta move!"

"Hold on a fuckin' second!" Toombs snapped back.

"Toombs, could you…..please….call the clinic. I…think I'm in labor." God, she hated asking him for help, but she had no choice. She was in too much pain to try to climb the stairs to get to the com.

"Fuck." Toombs hissed. She expected him to say no or not believe her, but he grabbed a com fro his hip. "What's the signal?"

She told him and he dialed it. "Got a pregnant bitch here. She's about to pop. Hell if I know….hell if I know that either. Rakka. Fuck no, I ain't the dad. House 22. Whatever."

He clicked off the signal and placed the com at his hip. He look at her and said, "Happy?"

"Yes, thank you." Rakka replied leaning back, another contraction was ebbing away.

Toombs knelt down beside her and said, "I think I deserve more than a thank you." His hand trailed up her arm and she felt her skin shiver as she felt him through her sleeve. It wasn't disgust, it was. . . something else.

He kissed her. He likely did it to piss her off. It was the moment that Rakka made a lot of difficult decisions and realizations in that moment. He wasn't Riddick, his lips weren't full and his beard scratched her chin, yet she grasped his hair and pulled him in deeper.

He made a small muffled sound of pleasant surprise as his tongue stroked hers. He tasted of alcohol and cigarettes, but for some unknown reason it was pleasant. His warmth seemed to spread from her mouth to her toes. It felt so good. She must have been a slut at heart, or very lonely, or her hormones were so unbalanced and running amok inside her mind and body, or she missed having a man. She realized that it wasn't Riddick she was missing; it was mostly being touched, kissed, stroked, and being an object of desire and pleasure. For a moment she felt like a slut, then. . .she felt better.

She never knew until that moment that she had always been happy that Riddick considered her an object of sex and desire, which she felt guilty for not being a feminist about it. She never knew she was lonely. She had been so lonely and the pain of it crept into her soul as she stroked Toombs' upper lip with her tongue.

Pain constricted her body and she groaned into Toombs' mouth. He lifted away and licked his lips. "Hurtin'?"

"Yeah." She sighed as the pain ebbed away. "Thank you. You have no idea, but thanks. I really don't know where Riddick is. I…..I left him."

"You left him?"

"That's why I don't know where he is."

Toombs shrugged and walked away. She watched him leave, heading down the hill toward the waiting hover. Then Terry appeared out of no where onto the patio. He had just came back from work, his work clothes were ruffled from too much movement. He had a cool look in his eye and he said, "Who was that guy?"

"Someone I knew." Rakka replied evenly.

"More like an old boyfriend. Who's Riddick? The baby's father?"

She glared at him. "Yes, he is."

"I was suspecting that that guy was the baby's father."

Before Rakka could come back with a harsh reply, pain lashed her belly. She sucked air into her mouth and waited for the pain to leave.

"Jeezus, you're in labor! My hover is nearby, can you walk?" Terry touched her arm.

"If I need to I can." Rakka replied. She heard Toombs' hover drive away and she remembered. "Nathan was in the house."

"He came back?"

"He was trying to steal. I saw him in Alia's room going through things."

"Sonovabitch! Where is he?"

"Toombs, that the man….he's a merc. He got Nathan before he could….god, I need to get to the clinic."

At that moment, an ambulance pulled up for her.

* * *

Less than an hour later, Rakka was reclined in a hospital bed. The doctor told her it would be a while before she would give birth. They changed her into a cotton hospital gown and monitors took note of her vital signs and the baby's heart beat and condition.

Terry sat beside in her a chair. He was allowed to because the staff believed that he was the father and neither he nor Rakka bothered to correct them. He looked tired and worried.

"Terry." She said. "I…want to thank you."  
"For what? The paramedics got you to the clinic."

"No, for…." She swallowed. "For caring about me. I…know it hasn't been easy since I've been such a bitch. I want to blame my hormones, but….it mostly has to do with….trust. I…I've been so used so often….I…have a hard time seeing people that genuinely care about me and wish me well. I've been paranoid lately, possibly for Roland's sake as well as my own."

Terry leaned forward, elbows on knees. "I think that I may have been pushy a few times myself."

"No, you…..you're nice. I've been around so many mean men I wouldn't know a nice one if he proposed to me."

Terry looked up at her. "Rakka, I…"

"Terry, I….I want to love someone again. I….I've been lonely and…I'm afraid. So afraid for Roland and me. I…don't know what's going to happen to us. Riddick, Roland's father, isn't going to come back. I guess a part of me had this insane fantasy of him showing up…..that was childish of me and stupid. I've seen you around your niece and nephew and around Niala's kids. He wouldn't make a good father for my baby…..you would."

"Rakka, are you….?"

"Yes. I….if you want to…..we could….if you're still interested….."

He reached outward and held her hand. Her fingers wrapped around his and squeezed the hand of her fiancé.

Terry stayed by her side throughout the labor. She screamed toward the end when the pain seemed devour her. Then….her final scream was mingled with the cries of her firstborn.

Roland Laotaner was born healthy and strong with all ten fingers and toes. She cradled him close to her chest after he was cleaned, cord cut, and mouth swabbed. He quieted down slightly making small complaints.

"Would you like to hold him, Terry?" She asked shyly.

"Is it alright?" He asked.

"Yes, you need to. You're going to be his step father after all."

Terry gingerly took the newborn into his arms from hers. "He's a handsome little guy. He's going to be breaking girls' hearts when he gets big."

Rakka had to bite her tongue to keep from saying, 'just like his father.'

Rakka spent the next two days in the hospital observation. The nurse allowed to her have Roland in her in her room during most of the two days.

* * *

Terry drove them home and Rakka was surprised to see her apartment had been cleaned thoroughly by the combined efforts of Sarabi and Alia and their small army of excited kids. Gaia had even cooked a large dinner in Roland's honor. After Roland was passed around, Rakka and Terry announced their engagement. It soon turned into an engagement party.

The only damper on that day was that Rita moved back in with Little Nathan the next day. She was greeted coolly, but no angry words were exchanged. That is until she and Rakka clashed the next month.

* * *

"Roland, Daddy and Mommy are married now." Rakka said sweetly to her baby boy as she lifted him from his crib. Roland's only reply was a hungry whimper.

She and Terry had just come back from the government center where they had a small and private ceremony. It wasn't the extravagant wedding that had paraded inside Rakka's head during her childhood, but it was sweet and honest. Afterwards, Terry moved in with her into her apartment. He promised her that he was going to save and one day rent a larger apartment in New Town or build a small house. He didn't have much to move in other than a few wedding gifts from his parents. A vid set and a dinning table was the only things he had to bring with him into her apartment.

She took herself and her baby to a small rocking chair in her bedroom and arranged Roland in her arms for nursing. She unbuttoned her blouse and allowed him to find her nipple on his own. She rocked back and forth humming a song to Roland as he fed.

The door opened and Little Nathan almost fell onto the room from reaching so high to twist the doorknob. He had learned how to open door and was quite proud to demonstrate his new talent. It even made him more of a nuisance sine he was able to go into everybody's rooms and overturn lamps, pull clothes out of the closets, and sometimes, disgustingly throw up on the floor.

Rakka swallowed, she didn't really like Little Nathan, but she wasn't willing to hurt a child's feelings. She wondered where Rita was. No doubt drowning her sorrows at the newly opened bar in New Town. Rita would just leave without a word to anybody that Little Nathan needed a babysitter. They wouldn't know she was gone until Nathan did something and when they call for her and she wouldn't answer and was no where inside the House. More than once, Rakka wished that she had just came, got Little Nathan, and just left the planet.

"Hey, Nathan. How are you doing here? Are you looking for your mommy?" She asked.

He stared wide eye at her and Roland. He patted over and said something she couldn't understand. He patted her knee and then her arm.

"What is it, Nathan?" She asked furrowing her brows and shaking her head slightly to show that she didn't understand him. He patted her arm again and pointed at Roland. "Yes, Roland's my little boy. He's having breakfast."

He said the same word again, but she still didn't understand. He pointed again and spoke louder. Then she realized he was pointing at her breast. "Yes, I'm nursing Roland."

He spoke louder and hit her arm hard. He reached up and grabbed her blouse and pulled. She shrugged her shoulder upward, freeing her blouse and then she understood. Little Nathan wanted to nurse too. She stared at the little boy. Was Rita still nursing? She couldn't imagine her doing anything like that.

"No, Nathan, Roland needs to eat. You can have cereal." She yanked her arm away. "Nathan, I said no."

A dark look came over Little Nathan's face. If there was one thing he hated, was the word no. He marched over to a lamp sitting on a desk on the far wall. He grabbed the cord and pulled it off the desk. It nearly hit him and shattered on the floor.

"NATHAN!" She yelled, scaring Roland who started to cry.

He stalked over to the window and started pulling on the curtains.

"NATHAN, you stop that! You get out of here now!" She yelled. She stood and gently laid Roland on the bed. She reached out to grab Little Nathan, but he danced away.

"NO!" He shouted back and ran to the over side of the bed. He grabbed the blankets and started pulling. Roland was on top of the blankets and was being carried to the edge of the bed.

Rakka felt as if she was in a time warp. One second she was on one side of the bed and then the next, she had Little Nathan by the arm and was slapping his bottom repeatedly. He screamed and collapsed on the floor when she released him, obviously he was shocked.

Rita never spanked him before, and neither did Alia or Sarabi. There was an invisible rule among parents. Do not whip other parents' children.

Rakka was furious. She dragged Little Nathan out of her room by the arm and deposited him crying outside. She shut and locked the door. Her anger melted away when she lifted Roland into her arms and sooth his cries.

* * *

When Terry came home that night, she told him what had happened. "Jeez, I wish I had been here to see the brat get his ass kicked."

"I know." Rakka replied. She was settling Roland down for bed. They had bought a crib from a store in New Town with the money that Terry made. One relief of being married was that she didn't have to worry about her money to much. "I'm not proud I did it at all. I was so scared and angry. He could have seriously hurt Roland."

"I know, I know. I'm proud of you, though." Terry said as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Rita won't be happy when she comes back from her wherever the hell she went." Rakka muttered as she leaned forward and pull the cord that played the overhead musical toy. It began its slow spin as a lullaby chimed from it. Roland shifted slightly, but his half closed blinked several times, his usual signal that he was about to sleep.

"Who cares? She needs to get her shit together and leave." Terry replied.

"I don't want there to be a feud between us." Rakka said. "I….I'm a little worried. I know she blames me for Nathan being taken to a Slam, but she's too afraid to call me out on it. I bet my right arm that she KNEW what Nathan was trying steal. She's just scared that if we find out that she knew about it, we'll throw her flat out on her ass. and now I just spanked her kid. I'm scared she'll try to get back at me through Roland."

"She would have to be crazy to try something like that." Terry replied. "Wanna go to bed?"

"Sure. I'm tired." Rakka replied. "I need to get up early."

"Rakka…." Terry said softly. "I meant…do you want to …..you know…. 'go to bed' with me."

"Oh." Rakka looked away. She and Terry hadn't yet had sex. They have slept in the same bed, but it was just sleeping. There were kisses between them, but not sexual kisses. She knew marriage entitled sex, but she was…..hesitant. The only man to ever to taken her had been Riddick. It was his body she knew, felt, and smell whenever she thought of sex. She was afraid that would she take no joy with Terry. She didn't want to embarrass him or make him feel inferior. A small secret part of her, believed that if she had sex with Terry, it would be like closing the door on Riddick…….wasn't it?

"YOU FUCKIN' BITCH, YOU IN THERE!" A hand was slapping the door to their apartment.

"Shit." Terry murmured. "Rakka, you might want to wait in the bathroom."

"No, she wants to see me." Rakka said stiffly brushed past him and headed to the door.

"OPEN THE DOOR YOU GODDAMN BITCH!"

"Rakka wait." Terry caught her arm. "She sounds drunk!"

"So? It just means she's stupider than she already is." Rakka yanked her arm free.

"Rakka, no, don't. Let me handle it." Terry said surging forward trying to stop her. However, he was too late. Rakka opened the door.

Rita was disheveled. She had chosen to wear a tight little red dress to the bar. The front low and the bottom high promising sex and by the looks of it, it gave a lot of what it promised. Her hair hung loose about her shoulders and her makeup was smeared. She reeked of cigarettes, sex, drugs, and booze.

"What do you want, Rita?" Rakka said in a stiff voice. "You're going to wake up the whole House."

"You fuckin' slut, don't you talk me like I'm a kid." Rita hissed.

"Quite acting like one and I won't." Rakka returned. "You look at you. You're dress like teenage hooker."

"Snob." Rita snarled. "Thinkin' yer too good for shit. With yer long hair and pretty eyes, yer nothin' but a lousy cunt."

"You sound jealous." Rakka replied.

"Bitch."

"Look, if you're going to just stand here and insult me all night, then I'm shutting the door and going to bed."

"You can't hit my kid and get away with it." Rita snarled.

"I'm sorry. I lost my temper and I did something I shouldn't have." Rakka admitted. "From now on, I'll lock my door and you keep Nathan away from Roland."

Rita looked surprised as if she was expecting Rakka to defend her actions. "You ain't gettin' away with it."

"What do you want?" Rakka said crossing her arms. "If you want me to apologize to Nathan in the morning, then I will."

Rita looked at Rakka furiously. She had wanted a fight, but Rakka was being reasonable and not giving her what she wanted. "Bitch."

"You said that already."

Rita turned and stormed away. Rakka watched her go and shut and locked the door. She turned to see Terry staring at her.

"What?"

"That was…was intense. I thought I was going to have to pull you two apart."

"Only if she swung first." Rakka said coolly. "Terry, I'm not in the mood tonight."

"Okay, sure."

In the morning, Roland was gone.

* * *

Rakka went to give Roland his morning feeding when she saw that his crib was empty. She went to Alia and Sarabi's apartments to see if they might have him. They didn't and she panic. She called Terry at work and he told her he was on his way home now. She even called the authorities.

Someone had to have snuck inside after she left the apartment to fetch. Dammit, she left the fucking door unlocked. What kind of mother leaves her child alone like that?

She was in the kitchen crying while Alia rubbed her shoulders. Sarabi was taking to the authorities over the com, answering questions. Then they heard the crying. It was coming from the oven. Rakka leapt from her chair and flung it open to see her child lying on the top oven rack inside.

She held Roland tightly to her chest and rubbed his back. She sobbed into his shoulder and said, "Thank god, thank god, my baby, little baby."

"How the hell did he end up in the oven?" Alia pondered as she too rubbed Roland's back.

Rakka swallowed bile in her throat and said, "I think I know." She handed Roland to her Alia. "I got to go and do something."

"Rakka, where are you going?" Alia cradled Roland to her chest, trying to sooth his cries.

"Is Rita here?"

"I….I think she left earlier this morning." Alia said as she managed to calm Roland down. Her face went white with shock and she said, "You don't think that she…?"

"Please, give Roland some formula." Rakka called over her shoulder as she left the kitchen. She headed upstairs and into Rita's apartment. The place was a mess. Beer cans, vodka and wine bottles, empty food containers, Little Nathan's toys, and dirty clothes were scattered all over the floor.

Rakka opened a closet and found a large and dusty suitcase. She flung it onto the bed and ripped clothes from hangars. She threw them into the suitcase and stuffed it as full as she could. She didn't bother to neatly fold them. She gathered all of Little Nathan's things and put them into a bag. She was done packing by the time Rita came home.

"What the fuck are you doing with my shit, bitch?" Rita snarled from the doorway.

"Packing your things for you." Rakka snapped. She held up the bags and said, "You're leaving."

"The hell I am."

Rakka simply walked to the window. She opened it and flung both bags out. They hit the grass two stories down. The suitcase burst open and the clothes spread out on the grass in colorful splotches on the green grass.

"You crazy bitch!" Rita screamed.

"And you're a sick bitch! You put MY baby in the OVEN!' Rakka hissed.

"It was a joke!"

"I'm not laughing." Rakka snarled. "What if someone turned on the oven? It would have killed Roland, you goddamn cunt."

"You can't kick me out."

"You're either going to leave and take Nathan with you, or I'll throw you out the fucking window. Your choice."

"You're serious!"

"Dead serious."

* * *

Rita did leave that day and took Little Nathan with her. They moved into an apartment in New Town with Rita's new boyfriend and they were not missed at all. A new family moved in, a much more pleasant family that brought a huge surprise for Rakka.

It was a mother and father with a baby girl more than a year older than Roland. The father was Yual Roal and his wife Lia. Their daughter, their adopted daughter, was Carolyn. Reki's daughter who was forgotten on Haven for almost a year.

Rakka couldn't believe it when she saw the baby. It was definitely Carolyn who was cut out from her mother's womb. The baby whom Riddick named Carolyn after he rescued her.

Yual and Lia were unable to have children of their own, and during the skirmishes on Haven during the war, they stayed in a small town where this baby had no family was staying with a doctor. They adopted her and kept the name she was left with. Rakka asked about a little boy name Sami, but they told her that they didn't see a small little boy there. He may have been adopted by another family.

Things did not warm up between her and Terry. A few times she regretted her hasty decision to marry him, for that they never consummated their sexual relationship, being that they didn't have sex at all.

Once, he came home with alcohol on his breath and in the morning while doing laundry, she found lipstick smudges on his shirt. She swallowed and wanted to cry. It was her fault and her prudishness attitude toward. She never called him out on it. As long as he was a good father to Roland, it was forgiven.

It wasn't settled until that one day when Roland disappeared again.

* * *

Rakka was folding laundry on the first floor in the laundry room. She had set Roland on the floor to crawl on a blanket. He had grown big enough to crawl and he was an avid crawler. If he wasn't supervised carefully he could get almost anywhere he wanted.

She occasionally glanced in on him to make sure he was fine. She then decided to go ahead and get dinner ready. She was gone for five minutes in the kitchen, but when she checked on Roland, he was gone.

"Roland?" She checked the rooms to make sure that he hadn't crawled off behind some furniture. She didn't see him.

Fifteen minutes later, the House was filled with people hunting for Roland. Rakka cried as she checked outside. Thoughts and images rushed through her head. Rita? Could Rita have come back for revenge? Toombs, oh god, she thought she buried the ax with him. Riddick. He found her and taken Roland for himself or out of revenge toward her. Oh, dear god, the Hitomians! They found her and stole her baby. They were probably on their way to Echo.

She cried while the others looked. Alia had urged her to sit down before she had a panic attack and made her a mug of hot coffee. She encouraged Rakka to drink it even though she didn't want it. The authorities were called and Terry drove out to see if maybe he could find someone who had Roland. It was ten minutes later, when Terry walked back through the door with a dirty Roland under his arm.

"OH MY GOD!" Rakka leapt from her chair, spilling her coffee all over the floor, over turning it as she took her baby into her arms, and kissed him all over his small face. "Where were you, where were you?" Roland whimpered and squirmed annoyed by his mother's kisses.

"You won't believe this, Rakka." Terry said removing his coat. "He was crawling on the side of the road toward the freeway."

"Oh my God." Rakka gasped and held Roland tighter. "He could have been killed!"

"Did someone take him out there?" Alia asked her brother.

"No, but I looked and saw that there were tracks of him crawling all the way from where I found him to the patio. The little rat crawled out of the house and down the freaking road! He scared me so bad, I almost crashed. I could have ran over him if I hadn't been looking.."

Rakka stared at him shocked. "I took my eye off him for five minutes!"

"I guess that was enough time for him to crawl out of the House and while you were hunting for him inside, he crawled down the road. By the time one of us stepped outside to look, he was too far down the road for us to see him. I'll go to town and buy a baby gate for the door tomorrow after work."

"Erik! Did you leave the door open again!" Alia said angrily, whirling and turning on her own son.

"Mom! I'm sorry! I forgot!" Erik backed away from his enraged mother holding his hands up in surrender.

"You forget? I tell you every day to close the door behind you! EVERYDAY! Well, this time you're going to remember! You're grounded! Two week!"

"Aw, Mom!"

"No, because of you Roland could have been killed!"

"It ain't my fault he crawled out of the house and wanted to go to town! She should have been watching him!"

"Erik!" Alia shrieked.

"I'm a bad mother." Rakka sobbed.

"Erik, now you're grounded for a month!"

"MOM!"

"Upstairs right now! You just wait till your father gets home!"

"No, you're not a bad mother." Sarabi patted her shoulder. "I'm a mother of three and I have NEVER seen anything like this."

"This is what happens when the baby's father is a Furyan." Rakka sobbed.

"Furyan?"

Rakka turned away and left. Terry called after, but she ignored him and started upstairs. She felt her arm gripped and she turned to see him standing behind her. "What?"

"Rakka, it's okay. He's fine, you're fine, and I'm fine too. You just had a bad fright, nothing to get so upset about."

"Nothing to get upset about?" She stared at him incredulous. "Terry, Roland could have been KILLED today."

"But he wasn't." Terry assured her and she felt him stroking her shoulder.

"No, Terry, no. I was stupid. I'm his mother, I should have been watching him. He could have gotten hit by a hover or some pervert could have seen him and taken off with him." Rakka shuddered at the horrible thoughts that blasted through her mind. "I'm his mother, Terry, his mother. I should have been watching over him, keeping him from getting hurt!"

She yanked her arm from his grip and took her son upstairs for a bath. She fed him a bottle and put him down for a much needed nap. She was rubbing Roland's belly while he slept pleasantly exhausted from crawling almost a mile and a half, when Terry came in.

"How is he?"

"Dirty. I think he stopped to play in red clay. His clothes are ruined." Rakka whispered. "Terry, I was so scared. I thought….I thought Riddick came and…."

"You think Riddick would steal your son?"

"No, not really. He….he's more….responsible than that. I can't explain it. I suppose I was foolish to think he would do anything like that."

"Was he Furyan?"

"Yes, he is."

"Roland is half Furyan than."

"And half Hitomian."

Terry placed an arm around her shoulders and she found herself leaning her head onto his shoulder. She was mentally exhausted and it was taking a toll on her physically.

"Thank you, Terry. For finding him."

"Hey, I'm his step dad, ya know."

"I know." Rakka swallowed. "I'm sorry I was ugly to you on the stairs. I…I haven't been treating you right."

"Look, I understand why you married me. You wanted a father for Roland."

"Yes, but….I don't know. There's something wrong with me."

"There's nothing wrong with you."

"Yes, there is. I can't seem to let go. I…"

"Rakka, listen, we don't need to talk…"

"I know about what you do after work. I've seen the lipstick stains."

Terry was quiet for a full minute. "Rakka, do…do you want an annulment?"

"I don't know."

"Us getting married wasn't a good idea was it?"

"I think we should have thought more about it before we took too big a step." Rakka stroked her sleeping baby's head. "I'll do whatever I can for Roland."

"You don't think I don't love Roland?" Terry asked defensively. "I love him too. I wish I was here more often to help you out. I made mistakes, but Rakka….I get lonely. I'm sorry."

"I wish….I wish that….it could be better between us." Rakka said softly. "Maybe, we should stop hoping it'll get better and work to make it better."

"You mean….?"

"I'll try from now on. I'll try."

"I want to try too. Rakka, are you…"  
"I don't know. I….I'm sorry. I…I'm acting like an old lady about sex."

"Rakka, look….I…."

"No, it's alright. I….there's something wrong with me."

"Nothing is wrong with you."

"Yes, there is." Rakka felt fresh tears slide down her cheeks. "I'm tainted." (Thanks tigerlynn)

"No, no, you're wonderful."

"No, I….one day, I may be ready to move on. Right now, I can't. You can sleep with whomever you want, just don't….sleep with any of my friends or colleague when I get a job."

"I want to sleep with you."

"I can't…..I just can't."

* * *

"Mommy, my eyes are hurting." Roland whimpered one hot afternoon.

Rakka glanced down from washing dishes to her six year old son's face. He looked like a mini version of Riddick. However, he had her pale skin, but his face was a cuter and sweeter version of Riddick's. His eyes were dark brown and Rakka supposed he got those from Riddick's genes since they weren't Hitomian eyes.

"Let me see." Rakka bent over and looked into her son's teary and red eyes. "I don't see anything."

"They hurt." He started to rub them.

"No, don't rub your eyes." Rakka caught his small wrists and pulled them away from his face. "If there's something in them, you'll scratch your eyes. Let me put some eyes drops in them."

She took his hand and led him to their apartment's bathroom. It was dim inside without the lights. She propped him up on the counter and retrieved a bottle of eye drop solution from the medicine cabinet. "Let Mommy turn on the bright lights so she can see."

"Mommy, what's the lady saying?"

"Huh?"

"There's a lady talking to me, but I can't hear what she's saying."

"Lady? I don't see a lady."

"She stopped talking now." He began to rub his eyes. "My eyes are hurting now."

"Roland, stop rubbing them."

Rakka turned on the lights and Roland screamed. His small hands were over his eyes and he fell off the counter. Rakka's heart stopped when his small body hit the floor with a smack.

"BRIGHT…HURTS! HURTS! TURN IT OFF! MOMMMMMMIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE"

The eye drop bottle hit the floor by her feet as she dropped down beside her son and caught his shoulders. "Roland, let Mommy see your eyes. Let mama see!"

She had to pry his hands from his face and force open an eye. She felt her stomach roll when she recognize the silvery orb that replaced the warm chocolate brown in his eye. She reached up and flicked off the lights and held her hand over Roland's eyes. Roland crawled into her lap and sobbed, his small body quivering.

"Rakka, what happened?" Terry appeared at the doorway. He had been downstairs watching the family vid downstairs in the House's commons room. "I heard screaming!"

"Terry, we need to get Roland to the doctor." Terry's hand moved to turn on the lights. "NO! Don't turn on the lights. His….eyes are shined."

"What? I don't understand."

"His eyes are sensitive to light. Terry, I'll explain on the way. Please call Dr. Paterson and tell him we're on our way."

They tied a damp blindfold around Roland's head to protect his eyes from the cruel bright sun. He curled up on Rakka's lap during the ride.

"Am I gonna get a shot?" Roland asked.

"I don't know, baby. If you do, then it'll only be because we want your eyes to get better. So be a brave boy, okay."

"I don't like getting shots." Roland whimpered.

"I don't like you getting shots either." She hugged him tightly.

They arrived at the clinic and were ushered into an examining room where Dr. Paterson was waiting. The anti-septic smell of the hospital sooth her uneasiness despire her anxiety. The lights were bright inside the examining room and Rakka hesitated before entering the room with Roland. "Doctor?"

"Yes, Mrs. Laotaner?"

"Could you dim the lights? Roland's eyes are very sensitive to light."

"I see." The doctor commanded the lights to lower until they were at comfortable dimness. "Let me see."

"I don't want a shot!" Roland reminded as Rakka removed the blindfold.

"We'll see." Rakka said soothingly stroking his chestnut hair. "Let let's the doctor see your eyes."

Terry winced when he saw the silvery orbs of Roland's eyes. "My God."

"What?" Roland asked.

"Roland, can you see my finger?" The doctor held up his index finger before Roland's eyes.

"It's purple." Roland replied staring at it.

"Can you see it?" The doctor waved his finger slowly side to side in front of the little boy's eyes.

"Yeah, but it's purple." Roland's eyes followed it.

"Purple? Is everything purple? Is Mommy and Daddy purple?"

"Uh-huh."

Dr. Paterson inspected Roland's eyes for a few moments. He tugged down his bottom eyelids and then tilted Roland's eye back. He finally said, "Good news little man, you're not getting a shot, not today. For being a good boy, I want to give you a present."

Dr. Paterson stood and went to a cabinet. He retrieved a visor that patients wore while being scanned for broken limbs or fractures. He adjusted the size and placed it on Roland's head. "This should keep the light from hurting your eyes."

"'kay!"

"Do you want Nurse Alison to take you to play in the playroom? I have to talk with Mommy and Daddy in my office."

"Okay." Roland donned his new visor proudly as he held Alison's hand was led out to the playroom.

Dr. Paterson turned to Rakka and Terry and said in a very severe voice, "We need to talk."

He led them to his office where he locked the door. Rakka could tell that something agitating the doctor greatly because he moved stiffly and angrily. He went to his filing cabinet and took out a few files. "Do you know what an eye shine job is?"

"I think I do." Rakka said softly. "It's where the eyes are shined and made sensitive to light. It makes you able to see in the dark as you would in the light."

"Very good, Rakka." The doctor sat behind his desk and slapped his files on the desk. "Do you also know that they are very dangerous and illegal? Everyone, EVERYONE who has tried to have the procedure done has either died during the surgery or gone blind afterward."

"What does this have to do with Roland?" Terry asked.

"Roland has somehow gotten a perfect eyeshine job." Dr. Paterson replied. "There's only one account of someone having a successful procedure, only one."

Rakka leaned forward, her elbows on her knees and her chin balanced on laced hands. She looked like she was praying. "Richard B. Riddick." She whispered.

"I'm sorry?" Dr. Paterson said staring at her. "How did you know the name?"

"Who's that?" Terry asked. He couldn't help, but feel that he heard that name before, years ago from Rakka.

"He's a very dangerous man. He's wanted within the Helion System and the Green system. He's a serial killer and killed hundreds of people. I did my college thesis on eyeshine jobs so I have a photo of him. It was taken while he was taken into custody for the tenth time. The man is an escape artist. He burns our taxes by forcing our Slams into reinforcing security and repairing damages each time he escapes."

He opened a file and retrieved a headshot photo of Riddick. One side had him facing the camera and other had him looking to the right and left. His goggles were above his eyes and his silvery orbs seemed to flow within the shot. So beautiful. Rakka reached out and picked up the photo and held it with trembling hands.

"Doctor." Rakka looked up into Dr. Paterson's eyes. "This is STRICTLY confidential, right? Whatever is spoken in here cannot leave this room, right?"

"That is correct."

"Can you also promise me that you won't breathe a word of what I am about to say to anybody?"

"I will. I promise whatever you say will not leave this room."

Rakka swallowed and licked her lips. "Richard B. Riddick is….that same man is….Roland's father."

"I'm sorry." The doctor stared at her in shock.

"The man in this picture is Roland's father." Rakka said a little louder. "We….met before Terry and I met….and that's all I can say about it."

Dr. Paterson suddenly looked at his files and said, "It still doesn't explain how Roland got the eye shine anyway. It would be like a mother with a tattoo on her arm giving birth to a child with a tattoo on his arm as well. It's just not normal."

"What are you saying, doctor?" Terry said tensely.

"I'm saying that he had to have had an eye shine job done too."

"Are you saying that we took him to some quack and had it done on our SIX YEAR OLD kid?" Terry nearly shouted.

"In cases like this, I would be inclined to call child welfare."

"Doctor!" Rakka exclaimed feeling her heart pound.

"But I won't." Dr. Paterson said softly. "I know you are good people, but the situation is still strange. I want you to bring him to me once a week for now and keep an eye on him. And call me at anytime if something happens or there's a change."

"What about his eyes? They hurt him." Rakka asked.

"I would buy some special sunglasses for him. Keep the lights dimmed and he should be fine, but…I do need to do some blood work just to be safe. Other than that, he acts fine other than the pain."

"Thank you, doctor." Rakka said.

"I'll have Alison perform the blood work, so maybe one of you may like to sit with him while she draws blood."

"Terry," Rakka said turning to her husband. "Could you. . . go, please. I. . . I don't think I can support Roland. . . "

"Sure, honey, sure." Terry patted her shoulder and stood. "Roland's in the playroom, right?"

"Yes. Just tell Alison I need blood drawn and she'll take care of the rest."

"Thank you again, doctor." Terry said and left the office.

Rakka clutched Riddick's mug shot photo between shaking hands. Seeing him. . . after six years. . .it came back. His rough voice, hard hands, smooth skin, warm full lips, and the taste of his mouth in hers, she could feel him as if it were only yesterday. For a space of several seconds, she felt so alone, so cold, and isolated from him.

"Mrs. Laotaner?"

She looked and felt the hot tears slip down her cheeks. "I'm sorry?"

The doctor was looking at her with a sympathetic look on his face. "He. . .Riddick. . . he was good to you?"

Rakka choked on a laugh. "I guess he was good enough for me to miss him."

She held out the photo to put it back on the desk. The doctor shook his head and held up a hand. "Mrs. Laotaner, you can keep the photo, if you like."

Rakka almost shook her head, but she took one more glance at the photo and said, "Thank you. . .please. . . don't tell Terry."

She slipped the photo into her purse and never told Terry about it.


	35. Roland part 2

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Here is some songs for that the bizarre relationship between Rakka and Riddick. First one I liked because it's full of anger and that seems to sum up a part of their relationship.

Artist: **Limp Bizkit Lyrics**

Song: **He Said She Said Lyrics**

Its just one a those days when you dont wanna wake up  
Everything is fucked, everybody sucks  
You dont really know why, but you wanna justify  
Rrippin someones head off  
No human contact, and if you interact your life is on contract  
Your best bet is to stay away mother fucker  
Its just wanna those days

REFRAIN:  
Its all about the he said she said bull shit  
I think you better quit, lettin shit slip  
Or youll be leavin with a fat lip  
Its all about the he said she said bull shit  
I think you better quit, talkin that shit

Its just one a those days  
Feelin like a fraight train  
First one to complain, leaves with a blood stain  
Damn right, Im a maniac  
You better watch your back  
Cuz im fuckin up your program  
And if you feel stuck up, you just mucked up  
Next in line to get ffucked up,  
Your best bet is to stay away mother fucker  
Its just one of those days

REFRAIN

So come and get it

I feel like shit  
My suggestion is to keep your distance  
Cuz right now Im dangerous  
We've all felt like shit,been treated like shit  
All those mother fuckers  
That wanna step up

I hope you know im like a chain saw  
I'll skin your ass raw  
Aand if my day keeps goin this way I just might  
Break something tonight (2X)  
Im like a chainsaw  
I'll skin your ass raw  
And if my day keeps goin this way I just might  
Break your fuckin face tonight

Gimmie somethin to break (3X)

How bout your fuckin face

I hope you know Im like a chainsaw (what)  
A chainsaw (what)  
A mother fuckin chainsaw (what)

So come and get it

REFRAIN

So come and get it

The hottest songs from Limp Bizkit

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I just really like this song and for some reason I think of Rakka's relationship with Riddick. Thought this is sung by a man, I can't help but feel that the words could come from Rakka's mouth toward Riddick.

Weapon Lyrics 

Artist: **Matthew Good Band **

Here by my side; an angel,  
Here by my side; the devil.  
Never turn your back on me,  
Never turn your back on me, again.  
Here by my side, it?s heaven.

Here by my side, you are, destruction.  
Here by my side, a new color to paint the world  
Never turn your back on it,  
Never turn your back on it, again.  
Here by my side, its heaven.

Be careful,

Be careful,  
Be careful,  
Be careful.  
This is where the world drops off,  
This is where the world drops off.  
Be careful,  
Be careful.

And you breathe in,  
And you breathe out, for it.  
Ain?t it so weird,  
How it makes you a weapon.  
And you give in,  
And you give out, for it.  
Ain?t it so weird,  
How it makes you a weapon.  
Never turn your back on it,  
Never turn your back on it,  
Again...

Be careful,  
Be careful.

Here by my side, its heaven,  
Here by my side, its heaven.  
Here by my side...

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is another song for this fic. I believe that this song could possibly be Riddick's thoughts toward Rakka.

Movie: Kill Bill: Volume 2

Artist: Malcolm McLaren

Song: About Her

Well no one told me about her

The way she lies

Well no one told me about her

How many people cried

Well no one told me about her

The way she lies

Well no one told me about her

How many people cried

But it's too late to say you're sorry

How would I know?

Why should I care?

Please don't bother to find her

She's not there

Well no one told me about her

Well no one told me about her

How many people cried

But it's too late to say you're sorry

How would I know?

Why should I care?

Please don't bother trying to find her

She's not there

She's not there…

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a song introduce to me by Sarabthny. She said that it made her think of Rakka and Riddick. I found the song and listened to it. It made me thin of the same thing. Weird huh? Anyway, I decided to post the lyrics here too.

**Always Lyrics**

Artist(Band):Saliva

I hear... a voice say "Don't be so blind"...

it's telling me all these things...

that you would probably hide...

am I... your one and only desire...

am I the reason you breathe...

or am I the reason you cry...

Always... always... always... always... always... always...

I just can't live without you...

I love you...

I hate you...

I can't get around you...

I breathe you...

I taste you...

I can't live without you...

I just can't take anymore...

this life of solitude...

I guess that i'm out the door...

and now i'm done with you...

I feel... like you don't want me around...

I guess i'll pack all my things...

I guess i'll see you around...

It's all... been bottled up until now...

as I walk out your door...

all I can hear is the sound...

Always... always... always... always... always... always...

I just can't live without you...

I love you...

I hate you...

I can't get around you...

I breathe you...

I taste you...

I can't live without you...

I just can't take anymore...

this life of solitude...

I guess that i'm out the door...

and now i'm done with you...

I love you...

I hate you...

I can't live without you...

I left my head around your heart...

Why would you tear my world apart...

Always... always... always... always...

I see... the blood all over your hands...

does it make you feel... more like a man...

was it all... just a part of your plan...

this pistol's shakin' in my hands...

and all I hear is the sound...

I love you...

I hate you...

I can't live without you...

I breathe you...

I taste you...

I can't live without you...

I just can't take anymore...

this life of solitude...

I guess that i'm out the door...

and now i'm done with you...

I love you...

I hate you...

I can't live without you...

I love you...

I hate you...

I can't live without you...

I just can't take anymore...

this life of solitude...

I pick myself off the floor...

and now i'm done with you...

Always...

Always...

Always...

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Last song. I like this song because to me it sings of either love or lust, possibly both. It really puts a darker side of love in my opinion. I'll leave it up to you readers. Who perspective do you think this song is from? Rakka or Riddick's?

**I Would Die For You**

**Artist**: Garbage

**Album**: Romeo & Juliet Soundtrack

I would die for you  
I would die for you  
I've been dying just to feel you by my side, to know that you're mine

I would cry for you  
I would cry for you  
I will wash away your pain with all my tears, I'm drowning on fear

I will pray for you  
I will pray for you,  
I will sell my soul for something pure and true, someone like you

See your face every place that I walk in  
Hear your voice every time that I'm talkin'  
You will believe in me, and I will never be ignored

I will burn for you  
Feel pain for you  
I will twist the knife and bleed my aching heart, and tear it apart

I will lie for you  
Beg and steal for you  
I will crawl on hands and knees until you see, you're just like me

Violate all the love that I'm missin'  
Throw away all the pain that I'm livin'  
You will believe in me, and I can never be ignored

I would die for you  
I would kill for you  
I will steal for you  
I'd do time for you  
I will wait for you  
I'd make room for you  
I'd sink ships for you,  
Take the cross for you  
Make me a part of you  
Because I believe in you  
I believe in you  
I would die for you

* * *

"Roland, you better hurry. Your mom's gonna worry." Carolyn called from outside the boy's restroom.

"Would you wait a minute, Carol?" Roland replied. He placed a new pair of black goggles over his eyes and studied himself carefully in the mirror. They were pitch black and went around his head. The lenses were dark enough to protect his silvery eyes from the harsh light. He had bought them at a fashion store he and Carol frequented during lunch break near the school. He stepped outside the restroom door. "Hey, Carol, how do I look?" He turned to show off his new goggles.

"Cool!" She said arching her eyebrows. "You look like convict."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She checked her watch. "We gotta go. Last time you came home late, your mom almost had a fit."

"Yeah, yeah." Roland shouldered his backpack and followed her down the hall toward the exit of the school.

Roland Laotaner, age 14, hurried to catch up with Carolyn Roal, age 15. Though Carolyn was a year older, he was taller than her by six inches, not only because he was tall, but also because Carolyn was short and petite.

"Did you hear about that space fleet that's heading this way?" Carolyn asked as they left the school. "I think they're called Necro….Necro….I can't remember. My mom's is freaked out."

"Mine ain't so hot about it either." Roland replied as they left the school building and headed down the road to walk home.

"Mom's afraid they're gonna come down and order us to convert to their religion or kill us all, like they use to do twelve years ago."

"Yeah, my teacher talked about that too. They quit after they got some kinda new leader or sumthin'."

"Are you scared?"

"Me? Naw, I think when they land on Yari and look around, they'll see that they wasted a trip."

"You're funny." Carolyn giggled. Her long dark hair shone in the light as she spun around to face him while walking backwards. "You know, my mom didn't really want me to go to school today."

"Because she was so scared?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to go." Carolyn replied. "I knew you wouldn't let anything happen to me."

"Huh?"

Carolyn coughed and said, "I'll race ya." She took off and Roland had to run to catch up.

* * *

As the colony grew and prospered, the government and organizations declared it a success and arranged for voting of a name for the planet. The people voted on Yari as the name. It wasn't long before the colonists declared their independence and set up their government, yet still had economic and trading ties to the companies and governments that set up the outline of the colony.

Rakka had gotten a job at a small daycare center near House 22 where she, Terry, and Roland had been living. It was run by the new founded government of Yari who was opening few factories for the unemployed. As the planet became successful with the agricultural, it began to open a few factories giving jobs to the unemployed on planet and off planet and hoping to gain a few more colonists to the population.

"Timmy, don't pull Samantha's hair." Rakka knelt and sternly looked into the face of a little dark haired boy. "Pulling hair hurts."

"She hit me." The child accused a crying playmate.

"Samantha, is that true?" Rakka turned to look at a tearful girl. "Did you hit Timmy?"

"No."

"Yes, she did!"

"Na-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Na-uh!"

"Stop." Rakka said getting between the heated debate. "You two are going to say sorry to each and play on different sides of the room. You act up again and I am going to tell your mothers."

"Mrs. Laotaner, may I see you a moment?" An adult voice called.

Rakka looked up to see a head poking in the door. It was Lila Carn, the head of the daycare. "Sure, give me one moment."

She deposited Timmy and Samantha on different sides of the playroom and went outside to see what Lila Carn wanted. "Is something the matter?"

"The Necromongers will be here tonight. The facilities are going to close early, so the parents may be here earlier than usually to pick up their children."  
"They're not going to attack are they?"

"No, the news said that they want supplies for their fleet. So maybe by tomorrow they'll be gone."

The news should have eased Rakka's fears, but she couldn't help, but feel ice trail down her spine. Something bad was going to happen, and she knew it.

"I may want to leave early too. Would that be alright?"

"Sure, no problem."

* * *

Ice trail down his spine. Something bad was going to happen, he knew it. Riddick almost decided to reroute the armada to a different planet, but it was too late to change course. They would be landing within hours.

* * *

Rakka came home early as she wanted. The House was a little emptier sense she first came here. Nialas had moved into their home not too far from the city where Sarabi's husband kept his business. Sarabi's children were able to sent off to boarding school's outside of Yari, though Tirana often came back and visited her parents. Rakka welcomed Sarabi anytime she visited and sought her advice on how to deal with teenage boys.

Downstairs the kitchen was stockpiled with canned, dry, and stored food incase the Necromongers did attacked. As soon as the news said that the Necromonger's fleet was spotted two solar systems away heading in this general direction, Alia panicked and began storing food for the "approaching attacked". She ignored anyone who dared to try to calm her nerves. Both Rakka and Terry tried to assure her that there was a possibility that the Necro armada could be just passing or could take a turn away from Yari at anytime. Yet, Alia ignored them and Houston did nothing to help. He had this way of just sitting back and letting Alia fly into what he called her dizzy spells whenever she got going in a campaign about anything. One can imagine how she acted when the news reported that the Necromongers requested to land.

Rakka went upstairs to take care of the laundry. She and Roland would be leaving for the shelter soon. Many people who remembered the chaos and terror the Necromongers render through the Helion System and other solar systems set up shelters throughout the colony. Rakka and Terry decided they wanted to play it safe and spend the night in the shelter while the Necromongers received their requested supplies.

She heard the door open and slam shut which was the signal that a teenage boy just came home. Soon there was clomping on the stairs as he headed up.

"Roland, I'm glad you're home." Rakka said as he entered the apartment.

"Mom, you're home early." Roland said entering her bedroom where she was folding clothes.

Rakka saw him and yelped, dropping the clothes. "Riddick!"

"Mom?" Roland asked startled. He unshouldered his backpack. "Are you okay?"

It took Rakka a few seconds to calm her breathing before she said, "I thought you were someone else. Where did you get the goggles?"  
"I bought 'em." Roland touched them with a hand. "They didn't cost much and I liked them. Carol said they make me look like a convict."

"And since when is looking like a convict a good thing?" Rakka snapped harshly as she bent down to gather the clothes she dropped.

"Geez, Mom! Don't bite my head off. Carol said it, not me!"

"Honey, I'm sorry. I'm really on edge." She stood and looked away. Roland looked so much like Riddick that he could be his younger brother. Roland's hair was closely trimmed to his scalp and those goggles…..sent chills down her spine.

"Is Dad gonna get back tonight?"

"No, he's now a manager so it means he has to stay and make sure they close up right."

"We'll see 'im tomorrow, right?"  
"Sure, we will." Rakka said. "Now go gather your things. We need to head to a shelter soon."

"Okay." Roland turned and headed for his bedroom.

Rakka watched him leave her bedroom and made sure he was gone from the family commons room before she set the clothes on the bed and then shut and locked the door. She went to the closet she shared with Terry and knelt. She reached in and took out a shoe box which she took the top off and removed the pair of shoes inside. There was thin tissue paper at the bottom that came with the shoes and she never wanted to throw it away for one reason. She brushed it aside and took the photo hidden beneath it. It was worn and had a few crinkles, that she had painstakingly tried to smooth out many times, from being taken and held so many times. It was Riddick's old mug shot photo that she received from Dr. Paterson.

She sat on the bed with it held between her hands. She ran a finger along the image's bald scalp and face. She had only meant to have this photo for a little while and throw it away were no one would ever seen it again, but she could never bring herself to do away with it. She felt warm and cold when she held it. Whenever she was afraid that she was forgetting something about Riddick, she would get this photo out and would hold it, sometimes staring at it for hours on end when no one was around. No one knew of the photo, no one.

The com rang and she started to lean over to pick it up. She placed the photo flat down on the bed's covers, but Roland called from his room, "I got it!"

"Okay!" She called back and sat back to where she was. She picked up the photo and continued to stare at it. She felt guilt sometimes. She felt sure that true wives gave more thought to their husbands than they do for men that they use to sleep with.

She wondered what Riddick would think of Roland. Would he proud of the way she raised Roland? Would he even love Roland? She wished she knew, because she was sure it would give her so much peace of mind.

"Mom?" Roland called from the other side of the door followed by a soft knocking.

"One second." Rakka called hastily slipping the photo under the pillows and she made a strong mental note to put it back in its hiding spot before she left this room. She quickly stood and unlocked the door.

"Aunt Alia called." Roland said as he stepped inside. "She that Uncle Houston can't go to the conference tonight. She says that you'll have to go in his place."

The conference was where a person of each House would go and be 'held hostage' while Yari and Necromongers made their 'exchanges'. It was the deal that was decided between the Yari counsel and the Necromonder leader. Some called it hostage taking and others say it was showing good faith between both groups.

"Why not?" Rakka asked.

"I don't know."

"That's just like him." Rakka snapped. The Niala's had moved into their own home years ago so they weren't an option.

"I can go." Roland offered.

"No, you won't. You're going to wait in the shelter with the others."

"Aw, Mom."

"No, you are going to wait in the shelter till they leave."

"But you said we were just going to spend the night?"

"If the Necros stay the night and leave in the morning then we'll be spending the night, but if they stay a few days, then we're staying a few days." Rakka replied. "So pack your backpack with several changes of clothes along with your tooth brush, clean, underwear (more than one pair, please), socks, and an extra pair of goggles."

"Fine." Roland groaned.

"How was school?" Rakka threw out hoping to change the subject.

"Boring. I can't believe you made me go. They didn't do anything. Everybody was so scared because of the dumb Necromongers coming and stuff. Nobody came. We had to sit there and do homework and assignments."

"If the Necromongers decide to let us live, then you'll be happy that you are so behind on your school work." Rakka replied evenly.

"Can I call Carol?" Roland asked.

"No, I'm sure she's getting ready to go to the shelter too. Knowing you two, you'll be on the comlinks for a week straight if we let you." Rakka shooed him out of her bedroom. "Go, go pack. We have lots of things to do."

* * *

"I believe we wasted a trip, milord." Vaako said as he surveyed the information of the planet Yari.

Riddick shrugged and replied. "We need the food if we're going to make to the Ziao system soon."

"Why this planet?"

"Call it gut instinct."

* * *

Rakka huddled onto the floor along with the other 'hostages'. She wasn't happy about the agreement between the government and the Necromongers. Giving invaders hostages was just…cowardly. She knelt on the floor between two men, and she realized that she was one of the few women in the dome area of a Necromonger ship. She hoped it didn't attract unwanted attention.

She had watched the mighty ships with faces and in the shape of commanding men land on the news and was collected by van. She made sure that Roland was well on his way to the shelter before she got into a van. She was taken to the base of a large ship and was led inside by men wearing frightening armor.

_Keep my head down and draw no attention and I'll be home in the morning. That is if the government doesn't fuck this up for us._

Door opened and she heard the sound of metal clinking as the Necromongers stood at attention. Footsteps echoed through the dorm and she looked up to see a tall man wearing armor that covered his torso, but left his arms bare. He wore tight leather pants that fit him like a second skin. She felt herself flush at seeing muscles move beneath the tight leather. She looked at the floor surprised. She hadn't been so aroused since….She looked back up and the man was wearing a visor that covered his head and black disc covered his eyes. His skin was gold caramel color and his arms were thick with muscle. There was something……about him…..

The helmet turned in her direction and she looked away. Her blood froze when she heard the boots clicking on the metal floor toward her. Please don't let him come toward her. Please.

She looked up to see boots and then leather cladded legs inches away from her. She continued looking upward until she saw the lower half of his face and her heart stopped. Full lips that she remembered kissing and a broad nose she had nudged with hers whenever she kissed him.

Rakka leaned back on her knees and stared. A second man appeared beside him. He had dark hair with several braids that hung down his back and he was very handsome. He glared at her with dark eyes. "Bow and show respect to the Lord Marshall, wretch."

"Take her to my chambers." An oh so familiar voice spoke.

"My lord?" He man looked startled.

"You heard me." The man lifted his visor and said, "First time I seen a living dead woman."

Riddick glared at her with silvery orbs that flared straight to her soul. "Rid….dick…..I….no…"

He grabbed her arm and hauled her roughly to her feet almost breaking her arm. She was shoved toward two approaching soldiers who grabbed her arms in powerful grips on her arms.

"Take her to my chambers. I'll deal with her there." Riddick ordered in a tone that terrified her.

She was led away from the dome, her heart pounding beneath her breast. Riddick…..Riddick….he was here. How? Why? How? Oh, God, he is going to kill her. Does he know about Roland? Has he seen Roland?

* * *

Riddick felt Vaako's eyes on his back. They were inside the council room after Riddick had finish consulting with a government representative from Yari. The meeting had gone smoothly for that Riddick was getting what he wanted: supplies for the armada and he extended the armada's stay by a few days.

"What?" He turned to his second in command.

"Forgive me, my lord, but I cannot quell my curiosity of the woman…."

"Then quell it. Bitch and me got unfinished business." Riddick snapped.

"Forgive me." Vaako bowed his head.

"As for the rest of you, you got any problems about the bitch, keep it to yourselves." Riddick growled toward the rest of the councilman who stood loyally to the sides. The armored men bowed their heads in unison in deep understanding of their Lord Marshall's wishes.

* * *

"Hey, Roland, can I see your eyes?" Carol asked.

They were sitting on the floor of the shelter playing a card game. People were praying, others were either comforting others or being comforted. Some where like them, bored and were finding their own entertainment. It was hot with many people breathing and cluttered together. Little children squirmed with impatience and parents nervously scolded them.

"Why?" Roland asked as he scanned his cards for a pair.

"Lemme see." She said leaning forward with a hand as if she was going to remove his goggles herself.

"Fine." Roland lifted his goggles to his brow. It was luckily dim enough for him to see without his goggles. "Happy?"

His eyes were round discs of silver fringed with blue. This wasn't the first time a fellow classmate asked to see his eyes. His mother had been afraid that he would have a hard time fitting in due to his eyes, but he was accepted for that his eyes were considered cool by all groups within school.

"Neat." Carol said. "Now I feel better."

"Why would my eyes make you feel better?" Roland asked as he replaced his goggles.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yeah, I don't know."

"Are you scared?"

"A little."

"Don't be. My mom acted like it'll be alright. And my dad said it was going to be alright too."

"I know, but….."

"Hey, if my mom ain't afraid, then neither should you be." Roland assured her.

* * *

_Oh, god, I am so scared…I'm going to piss myself._

Riddick's chambers were large and looked like something she seen out of a magazine or a movie. It was mostly gray as was the common color of Necromongers households. Rakka felt very cold standing in this grand room. She had been shoved inside and the doors slammed shut behind her. She was standing in a living room with lounge seat and chairs around a coffee table. To the far side of the room was a case with alcoholic beverages in fine crystal bottles.

How did Riddick get all of this? The furniture had to at least cost him several grand. She had always imagined him either being in a Slam or back on UV6 surrounded by ice and snow. Not in the middle of civilization living in a several grand priced home.

She looked around the suite and found the bedroom with a huge bed with dark satin sheets. There was a bathroom with a carved into the floor marbled tub with dark swirls. Everything in the chambers was dark and dim….like she knew Riddick would like it. It would allow him to walk around without his goggles.

He was still Riddick….of course he was……yet the thought gave her no comfort at all.

The doors opened and she glanced out of the bedroom to see him. He had his helmet visor tucked under one arm and his silvery eyes on her. "Found somethin' you liked in my bedroom?"

She swallowed and replied, "The bathroom. I had to go."

"Want somethin' to drink?' He motioned toward the cabinet with the crystal bottles.

"Not really." She replied. She had expected him to come in roaring at her "I want…."

He turned away and set his helmet on the coffee table as he passed it. He opened the cabinet and withdrew a bottle. He removed the cap and took a long swig from the bottle. He turned to her, holding it up as if he was giving a toast at a feast, and said, "Here's to your health."

He threw the bottle. It zipped past her like a missile and it hit the wall behind her. It shattered spraying the floor and wall with liquid and glass. Before she knew it, she was held to the wall where the bottle had collided with by the throat and Riddick was standing close to her. She felt his heat and rage emanate from his body and into hers.

"Riddick, stop….it…" He wasn't hurting her….yet. She wriggled to get free, her hands on his arm holding her against the wall.

"You look very healthy for a dead woman." Riddick breathed into her face. "So what happened? You fucked the warden and stole the keys from his pants?"

"No." She hissed, both hands on his arm. "Stop it. You don't…."  
"You're right, I don't." Riddick snarled. "I don't know how you got out. I don't know how you managed to fake your death. And I don't know where you've been for the last 14 years."

"I don't owe you any explanation." Rakka replied. "I….why should you care?"

"I don't like being screwed over by my bitch."

Anger lashed her chest as she struggled against him. He shoved her back against the wall nearly knocking the air out of her. "Don't call me that!" She yelped distressful. She considered kicking his armored legs, but decided against it. It wouldn't hurt him at all and it would only piss him off more.  
Riddick's other hand was at her blouse. She heard the sound of ripping cloth coming from her blouse and she started panicking. "Riddick, no no no no no."

The first few buttons of her blouse hit the floor between them and she felt hard fingers probe her chest well above her breasts. "What happened to it?"

She knew what he was talking about. "The doctors removed it. The skin was microscopically patched over."

"Removed my mark."

She didn't know whether it was a statement or a question. "Riddick, I want to leave."

She kept her eyes on his chest, she refused to look into those harsh cold eyes of silver. Armor covered his chest, and she was afraid if she looked at him….all the old emotions would flood back. She didn't want to give in to him as she did so many times years before. Yet. . .God, it felt good, so good to be near him, despite the fear and terror thrumming through her heart.

"Do you really?"

"Yes."

The hand at her throat released her and smooth up her neck to her face. Her face was tilted upward. She wanted to close her eyes and not look, but that would be childish. She did what she had wanted to do since he entered the room and that was look into the face she had seen only in an old photo for too many years. He hadn't changed at all. His head was still shaved and his silvery eyes pierced into hers. His scent, it did things to her that made her stomach ache with desire.

"Riddick….please don't." She whimpered pitifully.

"Don't what?" His breath was warm and inviting. It was as if there was an invisible puppet master controlling her body and emotions.

"Riddick, please….stop….I….oh god….." She put her hands on his face and drew him down to kiss her. Their tongues stroked each other's; stoking the all consuming fire in her loins. She wanted him, right there. He could have lifted her up and settle her on his hips and she would have ridden him against the wall right there. It was so long……she was a junkie who went cold turkey who just got her first fix in a very long time.

Their mouths parted, but their tongues lingered on each other's lips. She inhaled deeply as he lifted his head away, his tongue and lips out of reach. A thin, delicate, wet string broke between their lips and Rakka licked the spittle away from her chin. "We…shouldn't have done that." She whispered softly, but it was spoken to herself than to him. His rough hand rubbed the side of her neck and she caught herself leaning into his palm. "Riddick, stop."

"How did you get out? They told me you died in the infirmary."

She swallowed. If she told him the truth she would have to tell him about Roland. Did she want Riddick to know about him? Or about Terry….? She was threading on thin ice right now. If she lied and he found out the truth, there was no telling how he would react. Could she stall long enough to have time to think?

"How did you get this?" She motioned around the room. "How did you join the Necromongers?" _How did you get a high position? What exactly is your job with them?_

"You answer me first." He said in a rough voice. "Then we'll trade life stories later."

"I….what are you going to do with me?"

"What I always do with you. Whatever I want."

"No, I won't go through what you had put me through for months. Not again." She moved his hands away from her neck and shoulders. "I'm not going to let you use me. Turn my emotions into your yo-yo to play with and putting me through that pain again. I won't do it."

"You're avoiding the question." He took his hands from hers.

"I don't have to answer to you. Not anymore. Let me leave and forget you ever saw me and I'll forget I ever saw you….I won't tell anyone about you."

He tossed his head back and laughed violently. Rakka stared at him, wondering what was so funny to him. She felt as if there was something that she didn't understand…..and she was afraid that if she did understand it, that was bad for her.

He slammed both hands on the wall behind her head making her yelp and leaned over her as if he was doing a pushup against the wall. "You think that scares me?" He scoffed, but still smiling at her, showing white sharp teeth and said, "You think there is a damn thing you could do to scare me, bitch?"

It was happening again. One second, he was sensual and seductive and the next he acted as if they were blood enemies. She didn't know whether to be afraid or angry. She felt both for a second, then anger. "You can't do this to me. You can't interrupt my life like this. Leave me alone, Riddick. Leave me alone."

"How did you get out of the Slam? Just tell me that and I'll let you walk right out of here."

"No….." She whispered and looked away. She didn't understand why she was trying to hide Roland's existence from his own father. For years, she wondered how Riddick would react when he realized that he had a son for years, but now she was too scared to see his reaction at the news.

"Why not? You're hiding something from me." His anger could have singed her hair. "I had to ghost 30 fucks just to get to the hangar. When you 'died' there wasn't so much as a siren howling. Someone big on the outside got you out. Someone with enough UDs to get the warden set you loose and pay off anybody to keep quiet. Hitomians? No, they would have gotten me out also to knock you up."

Rakka shivered and Riddick noticed it. She felt her arm grabbed and squeezed tightly. She winced and tried to pull her arm free, but it was yanked, leaving bruises.

"As I recall, you thought you were pregnant in the Slam. You went to the infirmary after that cannibal cunt cut you up. Was it true? Answer me!"

"Yes! I was pregnant! I was!"

"Who got you out? Hitomians?"  
"No!"

"WHO?"

She was slammed against the wall and she yelped. "The CareTaker! He got me out"

Her arm was released and she slid to the floor in tears. She kept talking, it kept pouring out of her lips against her will. "He thought his son actually raped me and the baby was his grandchild. He got me out."

"Didn't he count the fuckin' months and shit? He shoulda known that…."

"How the hell would I know?" She looked up at him. "He was a wheelchair, he had a stroke. He probably wasn't in his right mind. I got out and was sent to this colony."

"The kid…."

"His name is Roland. He's 14 years old now. He's a wonderful kid, he does well in school, has friends……and he looks so much like you that it hurts me to look at him sometimes."

"Shiiiiiitt." Riddick hissed under his breath in an incredulous tone she has never heard him use before. "I have a kid? A fucking kid?"

"He's a young man now."

"Goddammit." There was a moment of silence and he said, "Roland?"

"Yes, I named him Roland."

"Looks like me?"

"Just like you."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"He's handsome……like you." Rakka said softly. "I….missed you. I missed you so much and badly, I cried. I wanted you there with me. I….The first few months after I left Red Hades was so hard without you being there. I had no way of finding you….I knew I couldn't find you even if I tried."

"When you said you were pregnant….I thought you were….out of your mind. Stress or shit like that. Blind hope."

"What are you going to do now?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Riddick knelt to look at her. "I think you do. You're just afraid to say it."

"Roland already has a father. I married. His name is Terry and he's a very nice and sweet man. He helped me raised Roland as if he was his own. If you showed up now…..right now in Roland's life…..it wouldn't be good."

"So you were planning on not telling Roland about me?"

"What do you want me to tell him? 'Mommy met a convict in the woods one night? They didn't love each other, but they had sex and tried not to have you, but you popped up anyway?' What would you have me tell him?"

"You were right. Don't tell him about me."

Rakka stared at him. Did she hear right? Riddick admitting that she was right something? Was this a sign of insanity on her part or his?

"I….you don't….you're not…."

"What? You was thinkin' I was gonna try and snatch him from ya? You think I got stupid in the last fifteen years?"

"No….I….I was just afraid. I didn't know how you'd react."

"Now you know."

* * *

Terry sorted through several files and papers on his desk when the headache hit. He winced and sucked in air through his gritted teeth. His pressed a palm to his crown while his other hand sought for the pain killers in the drawer.

_Not again, not this again. _

He managed to twist the cap off with one hand and swallow two tablets dry. He sucked in air as the pain slowly, yet surely faded. Third time today a severe headache had came out of nowhere and just about sent him to the floor. The headaches started about couple months ago when they started out as small headaches that would last for hours, sometimes even days.

Rakka had been getting concerned and had insisted he go see a doctor. He refused, it was just headaches. Nothing wrong, yet they have gotten worse each time and once…..he believed that he passed out last week.

He remembered doing paper work when pain lashed through his brain. Then he found himself laying face down on the desk three hours later. He never told Rakka, knowing she would freak and force him to go to the doctor. It would be like her to wrestle him into a hover, strap him into the passenger seat, and drive him there herself.

He looked at a photo of Rakka and Roland taken from last year during Roland's thirteenth birthday. Roland was wearing a wet t-shirt and thick goggles to protect his eyes from the flash and sun. Rakka had her hair braided down her back and her dress was spotted with water drops because she had to break up a water balloon fight that broke out between Roland and his friends.

Roland was a great kid who was energetic and had determination. He was likable in school and did quite well.

Rakka…..she was beautiful, smart, and strong. She had a strength that surprised him sometimes. It was as if she was forcing herself to be strong. It had to come from a difficult time in her life, a time that she refused to share with him. He loved her, yet….she held back away from him. He didn't know whether it was due to distrust or……Riddick. That name flitted through his mind.

It was hard being married to and in love with a woman in love with another man.

* * *

"Are you going to let me go now?" Rakka asked.

"Do you want to go?"

"Riddick, stop it. I want to leave now."

"Why are you in such a hurry to get away from me? Couldn't keep your hands off me, remember?"

"That was different. I….I was yours in the Slam. I had to let you……"

"Let me? Fuck! You were all over me."

"What else was there to do?" Rakka replied. "You….were the better moments in that hell hole."

"I taught you how to give better blow jobs."

She felt herself shiver as she remember being on her knees bobbing her head up and down his length while he sat on the cot with his knees apart. She could feel his hand on her hair guiding her and his words encouraging her to take more of him into her mouth at each bob. Her tongue lapping him and feeling pride each time she heard him take a sharp intake of breath when she did it just right.

"Do you swallow now?" He whispered huskily.

She had refused to swallow his seed before. She didn't want it going to her baby through her digestive system; she had either spat it into the toilet or allowed him to release it onto her face or her bare chest.

This talk of sex was making her flush and forming a burning sensation in her loins. What was worse was the deep down knowledge that they were going to have sex soon. She knew it was going to happen as soon as realized that Riddick wasn't going to kill her in a fit of rage over Roland. Thing was….did she want do? Her body certainly did, but….her mind. . . was indecisive.

She was married now, though she and Terry have never consummated their marriage…..because of Riddick. She hugged her knees to her chest and trembled. She must have been screwed up in the head because of him. God, she should have gone to a sex physiatrist or a professional in the field of sexual relationship.

"Riddick, I can't."

She heard him groan in disgust. "You always say that, but you know what? I always get a piece of your ass each time."

"I really can't this time. I'm married, I told you that."

"How good is he?"

"What?"

"Do I have to demonstrate? Is he a good fuck?"

She looked away. "That's none of your business!"

"Why aren't you looking at me?" He caught her chin with a firm hand and made her look at him. If she resisted, he could easily bruised her jaw if he wanted. "He's not very good is he? You have anymore kids?"

"No, just Roland."

"What's wrong, Terry's soldiers ain't marching?"

"I don't know." Her eyes widen. Oh God….

"You don't know?" He got an amused look on his hard face. "You don't know? You haven't tried or….you haven't….How long have you been married?"  
"Stop it, Riddick, it's none of you business."

"It is my business if this guy is raising MY kid." His eyes hardened as he said my.

She sniffed back tears and said, "No, Riddick, we haven't had sex. We've been married for 14 years and we haven't had sex. Are you happy, are you satisfied? Because of you I can't sleep with my husband, a man that loves me and I can't love him physically because of what you did to me."

"What did I do to you?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yeah, I don't know."

"Am I just that good?"

* * *

Carol was sleeping curled up on a cot with a blanket wrapped tightly around her. Roland was sitting up in his bed looking around. His goggles were up on his forehead and he was scanning the dark room.

Ever since he was small and his eyes became shined, he learned that people are more likely to do interesting things in the dark than they would in the light. He could see two kids from high school making out in the back and a kid from school going through his mother's purse for money.

"Are you spying on people again?" Carol asked sleepily.

"I thought you were asleep?" He turned to see her sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"I was, but I woke up." She moved over to sit beside him. Her blanket was wrapped around her and it brushed against his bare arm. "What do you see?"

"Two kids making out and little kid stealing."

"I remember when we played hide and seek when we were kids, you were the best seeker. We would hide in the darkest places and you'd find us each time."

"You always hid in the closet and under bed where I could find you easy."

"I know you could find me in those places. I wanted you to."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. I remember when you got them. You're mom was scared to death that your eyes were gonna fall out of your head."

"It was alright. They hurt for a while, but they got better. The only bad thing was that I had to wear goggles and I couldn't see colors. I almost flunked kindergarten because I couldn't tell the difference between green and blue anymore."

"I remember your mom practicing with you with flash cards."

"Everything was different shades of purple, pink, and white. I had to learn my colors all over."

"Musta been rough."

"Mom helped me a lot."

"What shade of purple is my hair?" Carol asked as she touched her dark tresses hanging tangled about her shoulders.

"Why do you want know?" Roland asked confused. For some reason, he was feeling very nervous.

"I just do."

"It's a dark purple."

"Is it a pretty shade of purple?"

"It's just purple. Nothing special."

"Nothing special?"

"Nope, just ordinary purple. Kinda ugly."

"So my hair is ugly?"

"I didn't say that! I said that the color is ugly."

"So the color of my hair is ugly?" Coral huffed. She shifted from his cot to hers. "Well! I think you're ugly then!" She promptly laid herself on her cot and said, "Goodnight, ugly!"

"Geez, what gotten into you?" Roland stared at her back confused.

There was no response.

"Geez, girls!" Roland growled.

* * *

"Jesus, women!" Riddick growled.

Rakka had cussed him when he asked if he was 'that good'. She had fled to the bedroom and locked the door. He knew he could easily unlock it by inserting the keycard into the keypad beside the door. He decided to let her calm down before he made his move.

He took a long swing of whiskey of a bottle from the cabinet. God, he should have run the other way when she entered the woods that night 15 years ago. All the shit she got him into and no doubt she was pulling him into more because of this kid.

Him? With a kid? Dammit. Damn that bitch.

Rakka sat on the bed crying. Riddick, damn him. Damn him! How dare he come barging back into her life? He was going to do something to mess it up. She knew it in her heart that he was going to do something.

The door slid open startling her. Riddick entered carrying a bottle of alcohol and two short glasses. He had removed his armor and Rakka saw what he wore underneath it. The black top clung to his chest, stomach, and shoulders as if it was painted on. She couldn't tell what kind of material it was; it looked fluid as silk, yet it look hard as rubber. His black pants weren't as clingy as the top. They looked as if they were made of cotton, loose as his favored pants she remembered him wearing. His goggles were gone from his face and his silvery eyes traced her body. Damn, he looked so sexy.

"Thirsty?"

She swallowed and said, "Yes."

He approached her and set the bottle and glasses on the glass nightstand. She watched him fill both glasses and offer one to her. She accepted it with both hands and took a small sip. It sent warmth from her mouth to her stomach. It sent a sooth and relaxing wave through her. God, she hoped he wasn't trying to drug her.

"I like this bed." She heard herself say as she shifted backwards. She paused and said, "Can I. . .?"

"Go ahead." Riddick shrugged and sipped from his own glass.

She carefully held her drink while she lifted her legs to stretch out before her. She leaned against the grand backboard of the bed, practically sitting on his pillows. She took a large swallow of from her glass.

"Riddick. . .I'm sorry I left you." She said, as tear slipped down her cheeks. "I. . .the CareTaker, he just showed up in my hospital room and told me I had a choice. I could either go free with Roland or abort my pregnancy and stay at Red Hades."

"You mean, he was there?" Riddick asked.

"Yes, he gave me the offer himself."

"And he thought you were pregnant with his son's kid?"

"That's what he said." She was suddenly tired. Her world was finally calming down and the shock of seeing Riddick again was ebbing away at last. "Riddick. . .before they released me, I. . .I asked if I could say goodbye to you, but they wouldn't let me. They told me that they needed anyone affiliated with me in the slam believe I was dead. But I wanted to see you, Riddick, I did. I've been thinking about you since that day they let me leave."

Riddick didn't say anything. He only watched her drinking whiskey. Rakka looked down into her glass. She had nothing else to say. Whatever it meant to Riddick, she didn't know or he didn't want her to know.

Then she felt his hand touch her shen. He moved so silently that she was startled at his touch. He even set his glass aside on the bedstead without her knowing. She was wearing a blouse with a calf length skirt and tennis shoes. The skirt had risen up to just below her knee. The words 'Riddick, don't' died on her lips as his hand slide down her leg to her shoe. His large fingers went around her ankle for a second then slid back up her calf and curved around to her shen. Before his fingers could slide over her knee, they brush back around her calf and down her leg till they hooked the back of her tennis shoe and slipped it off.

As he tugged off her sock, she realized that her breathing had deepen and quickened. She was gripping her glass so tightly she made herself put in on the nightstand for fear that it would shatter in her grip. He slipped off the other shoe and tugged off the sock as well.

His hand wrapped around her narrow foot and his other hand slid along the inside of her leg. She found herself parting her legs to give his hand more room. His brushed up along her inner thigh near then it performed a u-turn and trailed down her leg. She found herself licking her upper lip.

"Riddick…."

"mmm?"

His fingers trailed back to her ankle then upwards again. It disappeared under skirt and up her flesh. This time his fingertips brushed the crotch of her panties, but then stroke back down her leg. She found her hands clenching the sheets so tightly that her knuckles were white and her teeth were clenched.

It scared her so badly at how he could affect her so. She feared that one day he was going to snap his fingers and she would bark like a damn dog.

This time around, his fingers lightly probed the dampening crotch of her underwear. She caught herself grinding her hips to rub herself against his fingers. His hand started to travel down her leg once again. She groaned with frustration and caught his wrist gasping. For a wild second, she tried to force his hand back up between her thighs, but he flicked her hand off with a quick twist of the wrist.

She became angry and frustrated with him. She wanted him away from her if he wasn't going to give her what she wanted. She turned away from him when he touched her shoulder. He responded by seizing her shoulder and shoving her onto her back.

She groaned with anger as she swung her arm at him. He dodged it easily and caught it. He used it as leverage to pin her on her back while he kneeled up on the bed and straddled her legs. Where he had the shiv hidden, she didn't know for that one appeared in his hand out of no where.

She froze watching the blade with her blue-violet eyes. Riddick leaned forward holding the shiv well away from her. She expected him to kiss her when his nose nudged hers, but he didn't. He breathed into her face, "Trust me?"

"Wha…..?"

"Trust me?" He held the shiv closely between their faces. It waved back and forth before her eyes. It glinted silvery between his silvery discs for eyes. It was beautiful and horrifying at the same time. She had seen him use a shiv to cut flesh before and she knew what he could easily do to her with this tool of pain and death.

She stared at the sharp blade. She swallowed and before she knew it or understood why, she nodded.

The tip of the shiv was placed at the edge and center of her hairline. The tip trailed down without cutting or scratching the skin. It continued downward between her eyes and down the bridge of her nose. It slipped over the tip of her nose toward her lips. It brushed over her upper lip tickling her making her wiggle her nose. It paused between her lips as if Riddick was thinking about slipping the skiv into her mouth, but then it slipped over her bottom lip and chin.

Goosebumps pricked out over her flesh and she tilted her head back as it traveled down her throat and between her collar bones. It progressed over the blank patch of skin where his name had been. For a brief, terrifying second, she believed that he would rewrite his name into her chest again, but the tip kept going without ever indenting the skin. The tip scratched at the material of her blouse, then slowly, one by one it snipped through her remaining buttons.

Her blouse was spread open with a warm hand and she realized how cold it was as the air touched her ribs and stomach. His free hand slipped beneath her back and lifted her up easily. She tried to support herself on her arms for whatever reason Riddick would want her upper body up, but his shiv sliced through sleeve of her blouse in one quick motion. Rakka believed that he had cut, but there was no blood or pain, more like an ebbing feeling because the blade as glided over the skin so quickly.

Before she could say anything he switched hands. The hand holding her up held the shiv and the held that held the shiv held her up. His other hand was able to perform the same quick motion kick before she could react again. She suck in air as he sliced through the cloth at her shoulders and the remains of her blouse fell off her body. Riddick speared the cloth with his shiv and cast it aside. He let her dropped back onto the mattress.

Her body bounced bobbed slightly and she spread her arms hoping to steady her body. "Riddick. . ."

"Yeah." He whispered as the shiv slipped beneath the bit of her bra that was stretched between her breasts.

"You are a shiv-happy bastard."

She could see him smile and heard his chuckle at her. The shiv was flipped up and severed the cloth. Her breasts felt free from the restraining bra and the cold blade shifted them aside revealing her breasts. She quickly shifted the bra off her shoulders and let it fall off the bed.

She expected him to touch her, but his shiv tip traced her navel and then trailed down her flat stomach to the waistband of her skirt. It was cut away at the hip and he yanked it off, jerking her body sideways. She yelped, afraid she would cut herself on his shiv. Then she fell back onto the mattress wearing only her panties.

It was like always. She was being naked while he was fully dressed. Nothing has changed. It terrified her how after all the years she would so easily fall back into the rut of their relationship. God, she must be so sexually and mentally scarred.

She looked into his eyes, those silvery eyes that frighten and mesmerize her so much. His eyes were concentrated on the shiv as he ran it up and down her side. He must have those eyes whenever he killed someone with this shiv.

He was aroused, she knew and could almost smell it. His breathing was deepening and the evidence was right there at the straining lump at his pants. The silvery discs moved up to hers and he watched her. Whether he was seeing if she was loosing her nerve or was aroused as he was, she didn't know.

Then 'snip', the right side of her panties was cut at the hip. The shiv traced over her belly and cut the other side. Instead of removing her ruined underwear he traced the shiv up her ribs to her neglected breasts.

She inhaled deeply as he flicked the tip of the shiv over the teat of her nipple, teasing the small nub of flesh. It sent shock through her breast as her nipple harden. She wanted warmth on her nipple, the shiv was too cold. Painfully Riddick placed his other hand on her ribs distributing warmth in the wrong place.

He moved the shiv to give the other nipple the same treatment. She shuddered and she lifted hand to her painfully teased nipple. Her fingers began to tug it and twist it while the shiv played with her other nipple sending waves of electricity down her spine.

He grabbed her hand and moved it away from her breast. He leaned forward and to her delight he ran his tongue lavishly along the abused nub. The warmth of her mouth made her dizzy and exhilarated, but he did it just once, just torturous once and he lifted his head away. A frustrated growl escaped her throat and she tried to pull him back to her breast, but he caught her hand and pinned it to the mattress. Before she could struggle with her free hand, the shiv touched lightly at her throat, making her freeze.

She saw the smile tug at the corner of his lips as he traced her jaw with the blade and then he shifted backwards. He placed the shiv flat on her belly as his lowered his face toward her stomach. He bit the edge of her underwear, lightly pinching her with his teeth. He lifted the cloth from her body tossed it over the bed with his teeth.

She wanted him to lower his head to her crotch. She wanted his mouth on her flesh, teasing her clitoris. The shiv slid down her belly and toward her crotch. She tensed and said, "Riddick….."

The cold metal slid down her belly and she felt cold metal against her. Thankfully the flat of the shiv was touching her, and then it was gone. Riddick shifted his body back to her feet. He lowered his head as his hard hand touched her left knee and spread her legs wide apart. She bent them and willingly spread them; she felt her body begging for him, his tongue, lips, teeth, and the heat of his mouth.

She closed her eyes as she first felt hot breath and then his warm mouth. His tongue prodded her clitoris and then swirled around it. Her body convulsed as he ran his tongue along from the bottom of her vaginal opening and up to her clit. Her hands were on his shaved head while she grinded her hips against his lips. Her eyes popped opened as something solid entered her. She blinked her eyes, she knew it wasn't Riddick's fingers and she certainly knew that it couldn't be his penis.

She looked down her chest and belly to see what was going on. Riddick's hand was on her hip and the other was holding the shiv by the blade while the handle was slid in and out of her body.

It wasn't something she would have personally wanted inside her there, but she was sure that Riddick would do worse if she protested. She forced herself to relax and enjoy it. She smoothed her hands over his head, feeling the stubbles scrub her palms and fingertips.

He lifted his hand shifted upward along her body; she could feel his warm body through the black under armor he wore. Her hands touched his chest longing to touch the smooth flesh of his chest. She kissed him when his face was above hers and she whispered, "Riddick, strip."

A few moments later, his top landed on the hard floor along with her tattered clothes. Rakka ran her hungry hands along the built body that Greek sculptors would have prided themselves for.

She was grateful, he was taking off his boots with one hand and she undid his belt for him. She helped him push the pants down his hips, to his thighs, and down his legs. It made a soft clump as it too landed on the floor.

They kissed, their tongue seeking each other. His large hands glided up and down her soft curves while her small hands traveled over the curves, dips, and landscape of his muscled body. God, this was so much more than the fucking they usually did before. It was more like….dare she thought….love making? They haven't seen each other for so long, so long since they touched. Did….did…..Riddick miss her too?

Then he shifted his hips and she parted her thighs apart for him. He cupped the back of her knees to hoist her to him. He entered her already soaking vagina smoothly and hard. She was use to him and his way of taking her. She enjoyed it, she pulled him down so her arms around him as he stroked within her.

He was so taller than her and she was so shorter than him, that they couldn't see each other eye to eye in missionary style. Her view was of his collar bones and the muscles that moved together as he fucked her. She pressed her face against him, loving him inside of her and outside.

Then…..together they climaxed and he collapsed on top of her. For a few minutes she was almost crushed, before he rolled off her. She found her body snuggling against his and her arms around him pulling herself close to him. He allowed her to do so and his arms were around her. For once, for once since she first started having this bizarre sexual relationship with him, they held each other after sex.


	36. Regret

She awoke to find herself alone on the bed, the sheets up to her shoulder. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with one hand. "Riddick?"

There was no reply. Was he in the bathroom?

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and wrapped a sheet around her. The metal floor felt cool to her care feet as she padded across the floor. She knocked at the bathroom door. "Riddick, are you there?" No reply. "I'm coming in."

She opened the door, but the bathroom was empty. There was warm moisture in the air and the mirrors were wet from fog. Water dripped in the shower so Riddick must have awoke earlier than her and showered then left.

She went back to the bed and saw that only her clothes were on the floor. Riddick's were gone. He must have gotten up before she woken up, showered, dress, and left with waking her. She sat on the bed and swallowed. Surely Riddick wouldn't just leave her on her own on a Necro ship. Then again…..he did _sell her _to pimps one time…..so long ago.

There was a soft knock at the bedroom door. She looked up. Riddick wouldn't knock to his own bedroom nor would he knock at all. She looked at her ruined clothes on the floor and mentally cursed Riddick for cutting her clothes off her body. It was going to look bad, her being naked…..then again, whether she was clothed or not, she had spent the night in a man's bedroom, it was still going to look bad.

"Come in?" Rakka said hesitantly.

The door slid open and there was girl wearing a long ashen robe. Rakka was surprised to see that the girl's skin was so pale and her brown eyes looked washed out, like wet paint that someone threw water over. The girl was probably only a few years older than Roland.

"The Lord Marshall bade me to tend to your needs, milady." The girl said softly.

"Lord Marshall? Do you mean Riddick?" Rakka asked.

The girl nodded.

Lord Marshall? That sounded important…..she heard that somewhere before. On the news when the Necromongers were approaching Yari. It was words that got jumbled up along with presidents, defense councils, diplomats, experts, and other political names that she didn't bother to keep up with. In fact, she rarely watched the news. She was always afraid that she would see Riddick.

"Can you get me some clothes?" Rakka asked.

* * *

"I already have a selection for you." The girl motioned to several dresses spread on the couch in the living room.

Roland woke up before everyone else did in the shelter. He reached over and gently shook Carol awake. "Hey, Carol, guess what…..we're still alive."

Carol opened her brown eyes and yawned. She sat up and rubbed her eyes while Roland pulled on his shoes. "Where are you going?"

"Home."

"You can't leave! They said it's a good idea to stay until the Necromongers leave."

"I know, but I want to check and see if mom is freed yet."

"And if they did and she finds out that you left the shelter before you were supposed to, she's gonna beat your butt."

"My mom hasn't whip me since I was a kid." Roland gathered his things into his backpack and stood. "Wanna come?"

"Sure." Carol said. "My mom is still at the factory with your dad."

"Hey, have you heard anything from your dad since word got out that Necros were comin' this way?"

"No." Carol said softly and didn't look at him as she gathered her things together.

Roland mentally cussed himself for bringing of Carol's father. When Carol was five, her father cheated and got another woman pregnant. That had to be the cruelest week of Carol's life. She found out she was adopted and that she was adopted because her mother couldn't have kids. Her father filed for divorce and left the planet with his pregnant mistress. He called occasionally, but now a day he called only on birthdays and holidays…..if he remembered….being too busy with HIS own child.

"Carol, I'm sorry." He touched her shoulder. "I was just curious, I didn't mean…."

"It's alright." Carol said shouldering her backpack. She tied her dark hair back into a ponytail. "Let's go."

* * *

Rakka chose a dark colored dress. It was a very dark purple that it was almost black. The skirt trailed behind her ankles and the sleeves were long and had attached fingerless gloves. A metallic spine trailed down her back where her real spine curved downwards. The neckline climbed up her throat and ended at her jaw. Thought the dress covered most of her body, it clung shapely to her body, showing off a slim and trim figure.

She was proud that she had managed to stay in shape despite her age of 36. After Roland was born, she had a short chubby stage and when he was a bit older, she started talking walks with Terry to trim off the weight. Couple that with running after and wrestling with a rambunctious half Furyan child and her Hitomian heritage of eating less than norms do, she manage to keep her figure…..thought lately it's been getting hard to do lately.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was smooth and clear, but there was something that one could see beneath it. That the age that would inevitable come through. She was starting to see it a little around her blue-violet eyes. Her hair was still copperish blonde, but….it wouldn't be too long before it grayed.

She thought about Riddick. God, he was years older than her when they met and he still looked the same. It may be that she wasn't looking close enough. Maybe staying in shape like him just helps him look younger longer.

But they had sex last night like a couple of twenty year olds. It was something they probably shouldn't have done….then again since she known him they've done things they shouldn't have done over and over.

"Is it to my lady's liking?" The girl asked.

"Yes, I look very nice." Rakka replied. "Where is Riddick, I would like to speak with him."

"The Lord Marshall is unavailable at this time." The girl bowed her head respectfully.

Rakka sat down on the couch and asked, "Is the Lord Marshall an important position? I know I heard that name somewhere before…but I can't remember what it means."

The girl had surprised written over her face and she stared at Rakka a few beats before she answered, "My Lady, Lord Marshall is the leader of the Necromonger empire, he is the One who shall lead us to the Underverse."

Rakka stared at the girl and shook her head. "No, that's….not just possible, I knew Riddick….the last time I saw him he was in a Slam. He was a wanted man, there a huge bounty on his head. There is no way that he could be elected a leader…?"

"He killed the old Lord Marshall. The Nercomonger Way dictates that you keep what you kill."

Rakka swallowed and looked at her clasped hands on her lap. "That…..that I can believe."

* * *

"So tell me of this woman our Lord Marshall is so taken with?"

"Why do you wish me to speak of her, woman?" Vaako replied eyeing his wife with dark eyes.

Dame Vaako regarded her husband's reflection in the mirror as she burned dark makeup around her eyes. "It's not very often that our Lord Marshall takes such an interest in a woman. Usually it is the other way around."

"She is nothing, but a breeder. A Hitomian woman like any other scattered throughout the Verse. Scattered by our armada if one could recall the battle logs."

"Perhaps the Lord Marshall's appetites pertain to the Hitomian breeders." Dame Vaako set the application down as she was satisfied with her looks. "He has yet to take a wife out of the available Necromonger females even though He has tasted of their flesh….."

"Including yours." Vaaka gave his wife a searing look.

Dame Vaako ignored the accusation even though it was true. "I wish to see her for myself."

"Blast it, woman. The Lord Marshall's orders were absolute. No one is to have contact with her other than the servant and the guards He appointed himself. You go near her and he will have my head."

"What harm could a womanly chat do?" Dame Vaako challenged. "Is our Lord so taken with her that he wishes to protect her from the very people he rules? Or does he wish to keep her to himself?"

"It is his business what he does with a female breeder. As long as it does not interfere with the Faith then he has by right to do as he wishes." Vaako studied his wife's neatly coiled hair. "As your lord and husband, I forbid you to go near the breeder without my permission."

"I hear you, my husssssBAND." Dame Vaako hissed the words.

* * *

Terry washed his face in the bathroom of his office. He looked in the mirror to dry his face with a towel when he noticed the blood dripping from his nose. He dabbed at the blood with the towel and stared at his reflection. When did his nose started to bleed?

He wiped his nose clean and stared at himself in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot and he was feeling hot despite just washing his face with cool water. Suddenly he felt dizzy and he dropped onto the toilet. His head swam and he balanced it on his hands.

It was almost five minutes before the wooziness faded and he was able to stand without wanting to throw up. Damn, he must have the flu or something.

"Mom! Are ya home?" Roland called as he entered the House. "Hey, Mom!"

"Why are you calling her when you know you're gonna get in trouble if she finds out you're here?" Carol hissed under her breath.

Roland hopped the steps to his family's apartment. "Mom?"

Carol followed steadily and walked into the Laotaner living room. "I don't think she's here, Roland."

"But she's got to be." Roland came out rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, they said that all House members would be released in the morning after the Necros leave."

"Lemme turn on the vid." Carol said as she walked to the blank vid. She flicked it on and switched signals to the News channel.

Sure enough, on the screen was a reporter standing within distance of the massive Necromonger towers with faces with grim expressions. "They're still here!"

"Shh…listen!" Roland said as he stepped forward and turned the volume up.

"News just came in. The Lord Marshall has requested to extend Necromonger diplomacy to our planet for two days. Our President Louis Ingles has agreed to the terms and more shipment of supplies will be given to…."

"Damn! What about the hostages?" Roland snapped.

"Maybe your mom went shopping or ran some errands before coming home?"

"No, I don't think so. She bought a lot of crap when the Necros showed up. Stocking up on supplies incase of the worst happened was what she said. She would have came straight home."

"Call Andy! His dad had to go there. Maybe he hasn't came back yet either." Carol suggested.

Roland whirled to the com on the counter and dialed Andy's House signal. He waited with bated breath until the beeping was answered. "Hey, Andy?...Yeah, it's me Roland Laotaner. I got a question. Your dad made it home okay?...My mom isn't home yet is why I'm asking……Alright, thanks…….I'll tell my dad."

Roland clicked off the com and turned to Carol. "His dad came home two hours ago. Dammit! Where's Mom?"

* * *

"So he killed the old Lord Marshall 12 years ago?" Rakka asked. "And he automatically became the new Lord Marshall? No questions asked?"

"It is the Necromonger Way." The girl confirmed.

"Why? Why did Riddick kill him? I know him….Riddick has no interests in political gain. He wouldn't go after someone unless they bothered him first."

"I do not know. I am merely a newly converted Necromonger."

Rakka crossed her arms beneath her breasts and leaned on the couch. It was so hard to swallow. Riddick as a leader of a race. It was just too much to take in. Something had to have happened since they parted. God, she had no idea. This had to be a very bad dream.

"Where is a com? I need to call my….husband." Rakka looked away.

The girl stared at Rakka for a few moments and said, "I am afraid that the Lord Marshall commanded that you not to be allowed to have any contact outside of Necropolis."

"What?" Rakka gaped. "I have a son and husband who are going to be worried about me!"

"I apologize, but the order came from the Lord Marshal's lips."

"That bastard!" Rakka hissed as she got to her feet. "Then, I can't call outside of Ne..Necro…whatever place we're in, then I want to speak with Riddick, RIGHT NOW!"

The girl began to back away stunned and afraid. "The Lord Marshal is busy with affairs of state. He cannot be disturbed at this time."

Rakka flopped back onto the couch. First Riddick screws her in bed, and now he screws her over again! Why did she sleep with him last night? They were in it all over again! She sleeps with him and he screws her over a second time. Damn him! Oh, damn her for giving in to him.

A beeping interrupted her thoughts. Over to the far wall a vid screen was mounted into the wall. An LED light in the upper right corner was blinking signaling a message. Rakka started to rise, but the girl motioned for her to stay.

"I'll get it, Milady." She said as she approached the vid.

She pressed a key and an image appeared of a man's head wearing a face plate and helmeted armor. "The Dame Vaako wishes to call on the Lord Marshall's 'guest'."

"The Lord Marshall commands that no one, but a selected few have any contact with the Lady." The girl replied.

"She is being very persistent. She demands that we ask the permission of the Hitomian breeder. And she is the wife of Commander Vaako."

The girl thought for a moment and said, "But we are under the Lord Marshall's strict orders that all must not go near the breeder except for his chosen, which is us."

Rakka furrowed her brow at being referred to as a breeder. Is it a Necromonder word for whore or mistress? Why was Riddick being so protective…..maybe protective wasn't the right word….more like possessive.

"I'll see her." Rakka heard herself say. Fuck Riddick, he had no right keeping her here like a damn bird in the freaking cage. "If Riddick gets mad, blame it on me."

"But my lady, you do not…."

"I'll see her if she wants to see me." Rakka said in the hard tone she used with Roland whenever he tried to argue with her. "If Riddick has a problem with it, then tell him to deal with me."

The girl stared at Rakka in shock. "My Lady, surely you…"

"I meant what I said. You won't get in trouble."

"I….The Lord Marshall…will be angry"

"I'm angry at this moment. Let the woman in, dammit!" Rakka snapped.

"Yes, Milady." The girl replied and made the arrangements over the vid-com.

Rakka sat back and exhaled a long breath. She instantly regretted her decision, maybe there was a reason why Riddick wanted her kept away from the Necros. She reasserted her anger by remembering that he wouldn't even let her call home. Let him get pissed at her, she didn't care.

The door slid open to reveal a beautiful woman with dark skin and hair and wearing a black dress fashioned after the one Rakka was wearing. She entered sleekly into the living room. The woman had dark….no black….eye shadow around her eyes and her raven hair was coiled up into a very tight coil at the back of her head.

The woman stopped and said, "I see that Riddick decided to redecorate. I wondered if he also redecorated his bedroom. I hope he hasn't removed the furs from his bed. It felt so soft and warm especially during….." The woman glanced at the girl who was waiting at the side of the door. "Well, we adults shouldn't discuss such things in front of children."

Rakka regretted very, very, very much about allowing this woman inside the room.

* * *

Terry picked up the com after it's second beep. "Hello?"

"Dad." Roland's voice spoke into his ear. "Is Mom there?"

"Isn't she with you?" Terry asked. He was still in his office at the plant. He didn't feel well enough to drive home, so had spent his time listening to the news over the coms.

"No….Uncle Houston couldn't go last night, so Mom went in his place."

"Dammit." Terry hissed into the phone. "Why wasn't I told?"

"I thought Mom told you."

"No, she didn't." Terry groaned. "When should she have come home?"

"I called Andy and he said his dad got back two hours ago."

"Okay, where are you?"

"At the House."

"Did the Necromongers leave already?"

"Well…not exactly. They're still here."

"And why the hell are you at home and not in the shelter!"

"I got worried and…."

"Nevermind. I want you to go back to the shelter and wait. I'll notify the authorities and see if I can find out what's going on. If you see your mother, tell her to call me IMMEDIATELY. Okay?"

"Dad, let me come too."

"No, go back to the shelter. I'll call you and let you know what's going on when I find out."

"But Dad…."

"No. This is not a negotiation. You will go back to the shelter and NOT leave until I or your mother calls you."

"Alright…." The com beeped off. Terry hung up seething at Rakka. It was just like her to go off and do something stupid and dangerous without at least consulting him.

Terry gathered his hover keys and moved to stand. A wave of sickness leapt into his head and he sagged against the chair. He clutched his head as nausea and pain laced through his head. His vision blurred and then turned dark. He fell from the chair and collapsed onto the floor unconscious.

* * *

"You are….?"

"Dame Vaako, wife of Vaako, he's the Commander of the Lord Marshall's army." The woman said with a pretty smile.

"I'm Rakka Laotaner. My husband is Terry. He's a manager of one of Yari's most successful facilities." Rakka replied evenly.

Dame Vaako's dark eyebrows rose exquisitely and she exaggerated surprise. "So you are a wedded woman?"

"Yes." Rakka replied. "I also have a 14-year-old son, Roland."

"You gave birth….?" Dame Vaako's eyes rove over Rakka's slim figure. "I see you kept your figure."

"I was chubby a few months after I had Roland." Rakka admitted. "Then I found time I exercised and the weight fell off."

"That must have pleased your husband."

Rakka didn't know whether she meant her giving birth to Roland or her slimming down. She decided to peacefully not respond. "Would you like to sit down?"

"Yes, thank you." Dame Vaako seated herself on the couch. Rakka took up a chair determine to try to bring the conversation to a close so this woman could leave.

"How long have you been….affiliated with our Lord Marshall." Dame Vaako said sweetly.

So this woman was going to cut through the meat, huh? "This is the first time in 14 years since we've seen each other."

The dark woman's eyebrows arched in surprise. "You two were….close…"

"Not really." Rakka replied.

"I meant physically close, but not emotionally close."

Rakka glanced away. God, this woman was….ohhhh….. "Yes, we had sex if that's what you mean?"

"He is very…..generous….with his body if you know what I mean."

Again, Rakka wasn't sure of what she meant. Whether Riddick was very handsome, great in bed, or had a very big……oh lord…. "Yes, I know….what you mean."

The Dame Vaako grinned as if she knew that Rakka wasn't really sure at all. That grin made her feel like a child who could not understand an adult. There was no doubt, that Dame Vaako was a more experienced woman than Rakka, but….geez.

"So I take it that you and Riddick know each other?" Rakka asked. "Physically?"

"Oh yes." Dame Vaako replied tilting her head. Touche.

"And you've just married?"

"I've been married to his Lord Vaako for almost 15 years." Dame Vaako replied. "I've started having a sexual relation on and off with the dear Lord Marshall for the last 14 years."

"And infidelity doesn't….bother you?"

"Does it bother you?"

Touche.

"So….are you the only one Riddick….the Lord Marshall has…."

"Oh no. There are have been others." The Dame Vaako said sweetly as the scent of vomit.

_I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care._

"Well." Rakka shrugged her shoulders and offered a smile. "He is a man, a very stimulated man, so that's to be expected."

"I agree." The Dame Vaako grinned, baring perfect white teeth. "Sometimes a woman can….oh, how should I say this…..not be…..hmmm….gratifying enough for him?"

Something twitched in Rakka's cheek and she grinned. "So, that must be why he would need to visit other women. I mean, you say that you've been his lov…sex partner on and off and there had been others. He must prefer spice than…..seasoned grain."

Dame Vaako's eye brow twitched and her grin tightened. What she was going to say in retaliation was never spoken for that Riddick walked through the door. He was wearing the same armor that he was wearing last night. He removed his visor and regard Dame Vaako with a steely gaze.

Both women looked up to stare as Riddick's silvery eyes set on Dame Vaako. "What the hell are you doin' here?"

Dame Vaako smiled seductively. "Oh, I was simply curious of this breeder that would draw your attention so, my beloved Lord Marshall."

"Hello, Riddick." Rakka greeted coolly.

Riddick's eyes studied Rakka's face for a moment and then he turned to Dame Vaako. "You better get out before Vaako hears of this."

Dame Vaako tilted her head. "You would tell my husband of my actions, sweet Marshall? You never told him about those nights…."

"I ain't gonna tell ya again, get out." Riddick said, his voice getting hard.

Dame Vaako gracefully got to her feet. She sashayed close to Riddick, purposely brushed against him. An elegant hand touched his shoulder lightly. "When you grow tired of her, send for me. A sown woman can be…..dry."

Rakka glared at the retreating slim back of Dame Vaako. The woman walked through the door and it slid shut behind her. "Fucking bitch." Rakka hissed.

"Got that straight." Riddick agreed as he set his visor on the coffee table.

"Oh?" Rakka turned her angry gaze to him. "Which do you agree about? She fucking or being a bitch?"

Riddick stared at her. He began removing his thick gloves. "You're jealous? You are fuckin' jealous!"

"I am not jealous!" Rakka snapped. "You can sleep with all the hoes you want!"

"How can you be jealous? You were dead to me until yesterday, you goddamn bitch!" He flung the gloves onto the coffee table beside the visor.

"I. Am. Not. Jealous!" Rakka hissed each word. "If you knew that I was alive, would it have stopped you from sleeping with….with….that!" Rakka pointed at the door that Dame Vaako left through.

"No." Riddick replied. "I'd fucked her and the other women here anyway."

"I'm leaving." Rakka stood. "You can't keep me here. I want to go home and what the hell are you thinking keeping me from calling my family?"

"You're staying." Riddick replied coolly. He made his way to the alcohol cabinet. "You can go home tomorrow."

"Why can't I go home now?" Rakka demanded.

"There's some shit I gotta work out."

"What kind of shit?" Rakka hissed back.

"You'll see." Riddick removed a glass cork from a crystal bottle and took a long swig and swallowed.

"No, tell me." Rakka approached him arms crossed. "I know I did wrong by you by leaving you in the Slam, Riddick. But I'm begging you; please don't take it out on my family, okay. If you're going to do something to me, then do it, okay?"

"I'm not mad." Riddick replied putting the bottle back. He shut the glass door of the cabinet. "I was at first, but now I know why ya did it. Fuck, it's something I would have done anyway."

Rakka tilted her head. Riddick….being reasonable about something…Riddick had changed. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it. The changes were so small, the way he had sex with her last night and just now, being understanding to her situation last night.

"You had my story checked out? Didn't you?" She said softly.

"Yeah. The records here proved it. You were strangely the only pregnant single woman on the Usher, a ship taking families to Yari. After Roland was born, you married some guy named Terry."

She licked her lips and said, "What would you have done if my story hadn't checked out?"

Riddick stared at her for a long time before he finally said, "Rakka, you don't want to know the answer to that question."

She had to look away. His eyes were so feral and so full of promise violence. If she didn't know him so well, she would have believed that he was going to kill her right then and there.

"I'm glad you understand, Riddick. But I don't understand why I need to stay here any longer."

Riddick looked at her. "What? You want to be away from me that bad?"

Rakka looked away. The question took her by surprise. She was angry with Riddick for frightening her last night in the dome. She had been scared that Riddick was going to take her son or harm her for abandoning him in Red Hades. Now that she realized that he wasn't angry with her and wanted her stay for some reason that he refused to name, she wasn't sure of what to feel.

It had felt good being around Riddick again. She couldn't explain it. Something emanated from his and seemed to sink into her flesh warming her. It was something she never experienced with anyone before. Not from Terry, not from Roland or even from her own parents.

But she was afraid of how he reacted if he knew what being around him meant to her. He slept with other women….how many, she didn't want to know. Why it irked her to know or imagine another woman touching his bald head, kissing those full lips, touching and kissing his chest, feeling his thick arms around them, and his hands on their bodies…….it almost brought tears to her eyes. And Dame Vaako to be with him……..it was too much….just too painful.

"Are you cryin'?" Riddick burst into her thoughts.

"No." Rakka replied trying to disguise wiping her eyes as scratching an itch on her face. "My question is why do you want me around?"

"Answer my question first."

"Did you really have to kill the old Lord Marshall to become the new one?" Rakka retaliated.

A dark look passed through Riddick's eyes. "Yeah, I killed him. But there's a long story behind that and I ain't in the mood to rehash it."

Rakka licked her lips. Obviously Riddick wasn't willing to discuss the subject of what he's been doing for the last 14 years.

"It must have been a huge change for you." Rakka said. "I mean you went from being a wanted man one moment and then you're….you're one of the most powerful men in the universe now."

Riddick looked at her oddly. "I thought I was the most powerful man in the universe 14 years ago."

"You know what I mean." Rakka retorted. "I mean, look at you. You command an entire armada that once scared the hell out of every planet in the universe. What was one of the first things you did? Go and blow up the Slam planets?"

Riddick was silent and he turned back to the cabinet. His eyes studied the labels on the bottles.

"Riddick?"

No reply.

"Riddick, you know I was kidding, right? About blowing up Slams." She stepped closer to him waiting for a response, any response.

Riddick selected a bottle and read the label.

"Oh, my God, Riddick!" Rakka was shocked. "You didn't go and destroy all of them!"

"Not all." He looked at her. "I gave the inmates the choice of conversion. The Necromongers are big on converting people to their religion. It's how they populate."

"What?"

"Rakka, they don't have kids."

"They can't…"

"I don't know. They go through something they call Receiving the Mark. If you had looked at Dame Vaako's neck you would have seen two small scars on either side of her neck. I think it brain washes them or some shit. Maybe it also sterilizes them or they think it's not necessary to have children since for a while they wanted to destroy all living life that wasn't Necromonger."

"So that's why she acted so….odd when I told her I had a son." Rakka said.

Riddick gave her a very dark look. He stepped away from the cabinet and eyed her steadily. "You didn't tell her about Roland, did you?"

"I told her that I had a son who was 14, but I didn't tell her that he was yours."

"Did you tell her that we haven't seen each other in 14 years….?"

Rakka felt her blood chill. "Yes….."

"Goddammit!" Riddick punched the wall leaving a rather large indention in the metal. Rakka was surprised that his knuckles weren't bleeding.

"I'm sorry." Rakka said feeling very stupid and embarrassed.

"Yer goin' home in the mornin', okay." Riddick said. "By afternoon we'll be gone. Till then, you keep fuckin' mouth shut and away from the others."

"Riddick, tell me what is going on."

"Rakka, you know that I killed the old Lord Marshall and became the new one. The same could happen to me."

"ANYONE…..who wanted to become these people's leader would just have to kill you, to become the Lord Marshall?" Rakka could feel the ice water running through her veins.

"Yes, and they won't even see the inside of a Slam. You keep what you kill in this fucked up religion."

"Has anyone ever….?"

"Oh, there have been some tries and assassination attempts by other planet's governments and shit, but as you can see, they didn't succeed."

"God, Riddick…..I….geez…..do you think they'll try to hurt Roland to get to you?"

"I ain't willin' to give 'em a chance to try. If I have to, I'll ghost a few fuckups and knock some heads. These people respect strength, pain, and death. You need to be worried about yourself right now."

"Wha….why?"

"Rakka, in this culture the women don't have very many rights. They are owned by dads, older brothers, and husbands. The only power they can get is through marriage. And since I'm still a bachelor and the Lord Marshall…..you get the idea."

"They'll consider me a threat to a possible status as queen." Rakka groaned.

"One you gotta worry about is that bitch who was in here."

"Dame Vaako? She's already married."

"Well, she wants me to want her ass enough to kill Vaako and claim her as a wife. That can happen too."

"And you slept with her and encourage that idea." Rakka snapped.

"There you are jealous, again."

"I am not jealous!" Rakka snapped. "You can sleep with whoever you want! Just keep them out of my hair."

"You're lying."

"I am not!" Rakka hissed. She was jealous. She didn't want to be, she had no right to be. She left him, he was a free man. She was married to someone else and had no right over him. He owed her nothing and she owed him nothing. But it still brought great pain at the idea that that hateful Dame Vakko got to touch and be held by this beautiful man.

* * *

"Roland." Carol said softly.

"What?"

"Aren't you hungry?"

Roland looked at his metallic bowl. He had been stirring at the contents for the last twenty minutes. "No, I'm not."

"You really should eat, even if it is nasty."

The shelter had served dinner for the families that chose to remain in the shelter until the Necromongers left. The food was lukewarm and tasted bland. It even had an orangey color to it. Carol said that she heard some older kids claim that it was Slam food. Roland pushed his bowl away and groaned. "Why won't Dad call?"  
"I'm sure he's busy with stuff." Carol tried to comfort him. They were sitting at a long table which had been unfolded for meals and meetings. "He'll call soon."

"You said that all day!"  
"I'm bound to be right soon though."

* * *

Terry awoke to find himself reclined on a hospital bed in the clinic of the factory. An ice pack was limped over his forehead, he lifted a hand to move it away, but spots danced across his vision and he felt nauseous.

"Be still." A soft voice spoke from his side.

He glanced over and saw Margaret sitting by his side. She was petite woman with pale skin and red curly hair. Freckles peppered her nose and cheeks, but she was still beautiful. She wore her white nurse's uniform with cotton white shirt and pants with tennis shoes. She had been the clinic's nurse for almost five months. Her hand was on Terry's.

"Marge!" Terry pushed himself up and winced at the pounding behind his eyes. "God, my head…."

"Please, lay back down." Margaret stood to gently pushed him back. "How long have you been having these headaches?"

"I can't stay here, Marge." Terry pushed away from her. He wobbled as he tried to swing his legs over the bed. He collapsed onto the floor nearly banging his head on the nearby stand.

Margaret rushed around the bed to his side. "Terry, are you alright?"

"My head….jeezus, it hurts."

"Terry, let me help you get into the bed." She knelt close beside him.

"Can't. My wife, she's missing."

"Rakka's missing? What happened?" She slung one of his arms around her neck and helped him back onto the bed.

"She went as a hostage….to the Necros…..She hasn't came back." Terry managed to say before he started to pant with exhaustion. He fell, relaxing on the bed. He was shocked at how much it exhausted him to do a little thing as getting into a bed. He must really have a serious bug.

"Have you tried calling the authorities?"

"No…" Terry said. "Why am I here? How did I get here?"

"I found you on the floor in your office." Margaret said glancing away as she positioned Terry comfortably on the bed.

"What time is it?"

"8:00 tonight."

"Shit." He had wasted a whole day, how could he have been unconscious for a whole freaking day. Terry moved to stand, but Margaret shoved him roughly back onto the bed.

"I'll call the authorities. Where's Roland?"

"Shelter." Terry moaned.

"I'll call there too. I'll be right back." Margaret said. "Don't move from this bed. You and I have to talk."

Terry finally relaxed back on the bed and inhaled deeply to alleviate the agony in his head. God, a whole day wasted, him asleep while Rakka was going through god knows what. Roland must be worried sick. However, maybe she came back after all? It would be ironic that while he was worried sick about her, she was calling the authorities trying to find him.

Thankfully Margaret came back twenty minutes later. "I called the shelter and told Roland what happened. He wanted to come here, but I told him you're fine, that you…bumped your head and will be able to go home tomorrow. However, Rakka has of yet to show up anywhere. Roland still hasn't gotten a call from her or from anyone that has seen her since yesterday. So I went ahead and called the authorities and reported her missing." She swung a stool around and promptly sat down. "Now are you going to tell me about these headaches or am I going to have to tell Rakka about them when she is found."

Terry licked his lips and said, "I'm tired, Marge. I need to sle…."

"No, you are not getting out of this. You are going to tell me about these headaches, and don't lie about them. I went into your recent purchases reported on your UD card and I've seen how many bottles of painkillers you've bought. I'm surprise that you haven't developed an addiction to them already."

"Marge, I can…."

"Tell me."

"Yes, I have been getting headaches off and on."

"For how long."

"Marge…"

"For how long, Terry." Marge said in a hard voice.

"For the last three months." He admitted rolling his eyes.

"And you haven't even gone to the doctor about this?"  
"They're just headaches."

"But they are consistent headaches. Terry, you need to get some tests done."

"Marge, I don't need…"

"Have you had any seizures?"

"What? No!"

"That's what happened in there. I had to place a pen in your mouth to keep you from biting your tongue!" Margaret touched his shoulder. "Terry, please, go to the hospital tonight. Let them run some tests. If it's something serious they may be able to help."

"No." Terry shrugged his shoulder away from her hand. "I am fine."

"Terry, please, you know how I feel about you…."

"Marge, please, please, don't."

"Listen to me." Margaret grasped Terry's shoulders and made him face her. "Something is wrong with you. It could be something neurological, I don't know for sure, but I do know that if it goes untreated it will only get worse. It could become fatal. You could have another seizure in front of Rakka or Roland. Are you willing to do that to them? When I walked in there and saw you on the floor, it took ten years off my life. I thought you were dead. It was horrible and I know you don't want Rakka or Roland to go through what I went through when I saw you. So please, for your family, let me drive you to the hospital and see a doctor. It would be confidential and I won't breathe a word to a soul about it."

Terry looked into the teary eyes of a woman who loved him. They were green, if only they were blue-violet. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

Rakka had spent the rest of the day doing various things after Riddick left to take of business of being a racial leader. She ate lunch and dinner, watch a few vid shows (shows from Yari) bathe, and then went to bed.

She was wearing silken blue-violet gown that clung to her body, enhancing her slimness. She knew exactly what Riddick had planned for tonight. She knew better now than to fight it. Every time she tried to resist, it backfires on her. She gives in every time, so why fight it now.

She curled on the bed and waited. She knew she was excited and wished he would hurry and come. It scared her that she was so under his thrall. It was the only way to describe it. Thrall; wasn't that what vampires do to people or was it the devil?

God, she was such a sinner. She murdered three people, repeatedly had premarital sex, had a child out of wedlock, and had commit adultery. All this since she met Riddick. She was tainted after all, just like Chillingsworth said.

The door slid open and she felt a thrill of excitement and dread war within her. She curled onto her side facing away from the door with the sheets held to her chest. She heard him make a soft growl in his throat and she swore that she heard him scent her.

She listened to his footstep echo across the floor and could feel him kneeling by the bed, his body looming over her. A hard callous hand that she was so familiar with touched her shoulder and trailed down to the sheets she had tucked around her. Cool air assaulted her as the sheets were push down her body. She could hear the cloth ruffle as it was piled below her feet.

A rough hand touched her foot and trailed up her sheen to her knee. It cupped her kneecap and lifted her leg slightly. The mattress sag a little as weight was placed on its edge. She gasped as something warm and wet flick across the tender and sensitive skin of the back of her knee. Her leg was paralyzed as lips and teeth sucked and a wet tongue probed that sensitive spot making her whimper.

Another hand skimmed up her thigh and underneath the gown to her firm bottom. He groped her buttock for a moment before hooking her panties with a finger and drawing them downward.

_At least he's not cutting them off with a knife and teeth. _

He paused in his ministration to the bend of her knee to slip the underwear down her calves and off her ankles. A hand slipped between her shoulder and the mattress and raised her so she was sitting up. Thick arms enfolded her against a hard and broad chest. Her shoulder blades were pressed into an expanding and decreasing chest as he inhaled and exhaled. She inhaled his masculine scent, sweat and musky essence. His arms were smooth, firm, bulky and felt so good around her. She leaned her head against his upper arm and loved the warm skin that seemed to greet her flesh.

His hands lowered and griped the skirt of her nightgown. She shifted her body and raised her arms to allow him to lift it over her where after it sailed to the floor. Her lifted hands touched his hard face and shaved head. Her fingers treaded over the folds of his ears and trailed over his hard jaws where she felt very small stubbles. Her fingertips touched his full lips and something warm and wet flicked across them. His tongue drew two fingers into his mouth where it sensuously stroked them.

She slid one hand up to palm the back of his head. She withdrew her fingers from his mouth and lowered her hand to his which was at her waist. She touched his wrist and drew it upward to her breasts. The calloused hand felt exquisite as it cupped her right breast and rolled its rough thumb over the nipple. He lowered his head and licked her shoulder. Sharp teeth nipped the base of her neck, and then his tongue lapped at her ear before it began probing into it.

"Riddick…"

The tongue stopped. "Yeah…"

"I'm….going to miss this…."

Teeth gave her earlobe a tug before the answer came. "Yeah, me too."

She was urged to go forward her onto her hands and knees. She heard the jingle of his belt being undone and licked her lips. Last time he had her in this position had been on a cold floor that had been uncomfortable. That time, she had been terrified and angry. This time she wanted to enjoy it.

Hard hands touched her ribs and guided her back till she felt something hard prod her rear. One hand left her ribs to guide himself inside. She moaned softly as he filled her with that heat that was so familiar to her.

His hands slid up her ribs to her breasts where they were cupped. He began with a slow rhythm which gradually built momentum. A hand moved over her breast, over her back, and a handful of her hair was tugged forcing her to lift her head up. She couldn't see him, it was too dark and she was unable to turn her head to see, but she knew he could see her face. He saw everything.

As last night, they climaxed together. He stayed within her a few minutes before withdrawing and allowing her to rest on her stomach. He lay down beside her and she winced when she realized that he was fully clothes and only his pants had been lowered enough for him to use his erection. They were still lowered and his erection was wet and was softening.

"Riddick, I hate it when you….do me like this."

"I didn't hear you complain."

"You know what I mean. Me naked while you're fully clothed. I feel like you're using me like you would use a toilet."

"You want me naked?"

"It would be nice."

"Go ahead."

Rakka lifted her head and she could faintly see his glowing, silver orbs watching her. She licked her lips. She was still in her after sex mode, where she did not want to have sex, but it was something that soon passed with…. 'encouragement'.

She placed a hand on his pelvis and paused for a millisecond, deciding whether to go upward or downward. She slid her hand up; she caught the bottom of his shirt and slid it upward to his neck. He shifted and brought his arms up and soon the shirt was off his shoulders and arms and was sailing to the floor.

She lifted up and over onto his chest. Her mouth and tongue touched the ambrosia of his chest. It was as if she was drinking him and it warmed her body and soul. Her tongue lapped the nub of his nipple and loved his quick intake of breath.

His skin felt so hot to her hands and mouth. The back of her head was cupped and she was almost roughly yanked up and her mouth was shoved into his. It was a deep, open mouth, and violent kiss. She heard and felt their teeth scrap against each other while his tongue attacked hers. It hurt and may have bruised her mouth….but it felt so good, so good.

Their lips parted and a thin trail of saliva bridged between their mouths. Rakka lifted away and it 'snapped' and trailed down Riddick's chin. She leaned forward and licked it off and she found herself tracing his bottom lip with her tongue.

"You can't get enough of me." Riddick said into her mouth.

"No, I can't." She replied into his.

"You…still wanna go back?"

"I have to. Roland……" She stared at him, her nose inches from his. "Are you asking me to stay? You want me to…."

"We could do this all the time." A hand slid down her spine and grasped her bottom.

Rakka stared at his face for a long time before she replied, "Let just enjoy tonight."


	37. Home

Terry rubbed his temples. God, he was tired, scared, worried, and irritated. He just wanted to call his son and call the police and see if anything was found out about his wife's disappearance. The doctor assured him that they were through with tests and that it would take an hour to see the results. Margaret insisted that he waited to hear the results. She sat beside him in the doctor's office as if she was his concern wife.

"Terry, stop fidgeting." She scolded.

"This is a waste of time." He groaned irritated.

"No, it isn't." Margaret touched his shoulder. "It'll give you peace of mind or tell us how to get you well."

The door opened and the doctor entered the office. He held a bundle of files under his arm. "Margaret, I think you might need to leave for a moment. I need to speak with Terry in private."

Margaret's face went white. "Doctor, please, I…."

"Margaret, I really need to speak with Terry in private." The doctor said in a soft, but serious voice.

"It's serious isn't it?" Margaret said with panic in her voice.

"Margaret." The doctor said in a harden tone. Whatever was wrong with Terry was very serious. "You know the rules about confidentiality."

"It's alright." Terry said nervously. "She can stay. How serious is it?"

The doctor locked the office door behind him and took his seat behind the desk. He laid the file on the desk before him and he looked solemnly at Terry and said, "I've looked over the test results and consulted with several professional and experts over the solar com system…I'm afraid that they are not good at all."

* * *

Rakka was happy to see that Riddick chose not to disappear during the night. She awoke to find herself cuddle against Riddick's naked back. Last night she had managed to strip him naked. He felt so good and warm. She lazily kissed the back of his neck, his head, and then his ear.

He suddenly rolled onto his back surprising her for that she had believed him asleep. He cupped her head and drew her into a deep kiss, their tongues entwine. She lifted her head, but kept it close enough that their noses were touching.

"It's morning." She whispered.

"Yeah."

They kissed again. It was a full three minutes before Rakka spoke again. "I…got to go back today."

"Yeah."

"Last night……was beautiful." She felt her eyes warm as tears began to form. "I….wish that….it was all different. I was different, you were different, this whole situation was different……so."

"We can have this all the time."

"We can't."

"I know."

Her back was rubbed as he slid his hand to her shoulder. He leaned his head up and ran his tongue along her upper lip. His teeth tugged at her lip and Rakka felt herself getting wet.

She looked into those silvery eyes that had a greenish tint in this dim light. Just like…..Roland's…..Shit, how could she have forgotten? Roland's shined eyes! It was something she had always meant to ask Riddick if by some miracle they were together again.

She tugged her lip away from his teeth. He tightened his hold on her lip and she managed to yank herself free without him biting her too hard. "Riddick….tell me about how you got your eyes shine."

Riddick regarded her said eyes. "What about 'em?"

"I…." She sat up pulling the sheet up with her to cover her breasts. Riddick sat up also and watched her. "Roland…..Roland had shined eyes since he was six years old."

Riddick stared at her. Whether he was stunned or it took him several moments for it click, she didn't know. "What the fuck are you talkin' about?"

"Riddick, when Roland was six years old, he started complaining about his eyes hurting him. I thought that maybe something was in his eyes so I took him to the bathroom to rinse his them. When I turned on the bathroom light, he started screaming. It scared me to death and when I saw his eyes…..they were silver just like yours. We….Terry and I….we took him to the doctor and he told us that his eyes were shined."

"Why the hell did you take the kid to get a damn eye shine for?"

"Haven't you been listening?" Rakka snapped. "That's what the doctor thought too. He almost called child welfare on us!"

"That's what happens when you take six year olds to get a eye shine job!"

"I didn't take him to get an eye shine!" She nearly shrieked.

"How the fuck does someone just get an eye shine job then?"

"I don't know. He….I know this will sound strange, but….before it happened, while we were in the bathroom, he told me……he asked me what…some lady was saying to him."

Riddick's look of anger faded into….something different. He wore a look she had never seen on his face. Rakka stared at him for a moment before continuing. "Later, after we return from the doctor, he talked about her again. He told me that she was tall with long brown hair. He also said that she had a sword……does this…..mean anything to you?"

"Did he hear what she said?"

"Wha….?"

"Did he hear what she said to him?"  
"He heard, but didn't understand. He doesn't remember it too well. He was six years old. You know how little kids will make believe…..though…..it felt strange, almost…..familiar……"

"Familiar?"

"I don't know. I….you know when you wake up in the morning and you know you dreamed, but you cannot remember exactly what sort of dream you had. You can only remember that you had one. I…I had something like that once…."

Riddick shifted uncomfortably and said, "What did you dream?"

"I don't remember. I was pregnant with Roland and was on my way to Yari. I was put into cryo for the first time in my life. I had a dream…..when I got out of cryo, I knew I was having a boy before the doctor could find out the sex."

"Shit." Riddick hissed under his breath.

"Riddick, what's wrong….you know something about this." Rakka stared at him. "Tell me."

"I don't know anything about it."

"Yes, you do." Rakka stared at him. "Did you actually go to a doctor for your eye shine, or did it 'just' happen one day like Roland's?"

Riddick swung his legs over the edge of the bed hunched over. Rakka dropped the sheet covering her chest and she scooted to touch his bare back. "Tell me…..if it concerns OUR son, then I have to know."

"Has anythin' showed up on his chest?" He asked without looking at her.

"What?"

"Dammit, I hate repeatin' myself." He growled.

"No, nothing. Are you talking as in a growth or…"  
"No." Riddick rubbed his face. "Dammit! This is bullshit."

"Riddick…."

"Did a glowing imprint of a hand in silver show up on his chest…..over his heart?"

"No! Why?"

"It's a Furyan thing."

"Furyan? Riddick, how would you know…..I thought you were the last……did you meet others like yourself?"

"One. He died."

Rakka, knowing Riddick, knew better than to try to go into detail about that. "I'm starting to get scared here. How did you get your eye shine?"

She heard him swallow and he lifted his head. He inhaled deeply and released it through his nose. "It just happened. Just like Roland's. I was in a Slam called Butcher's Bay, escapin'. I heard this woman's voice, then I started seein' everything in pink and purple. It came in real handy during some tight shit there." He leaned back and looked at her. "I never told anyone this story. I always said I had it done by some quack doc that I paid twenty menthol kools to shine my eyes. I walk around with a story about some lady talkin' inside my head, they're gonna tag schizo onto my specs sheet."

"What does all this mean? I don't understand." Rakka said feeling goose bumps break out on her skin. "Is this a Furyan….thing…."

"I guess it is."

"Tell me about the hand imprint."

"It happened to me only once, than it was gone." Riddick said.

"Will it happen to Roland?"

"I don't know. Jeezus, I...I don't know shit about Furyans. I'm a goddamn Furyan and I don't know shit about them."

"You're not alone. I'm a Hitomian and I don't know much about them. And from what I saw on Echo….I don't have a very high opinion of my own people….I hate to say."

"Roland's…..half Furyan and half Hitomian."  
"Yes."

"I still think that Roland is better off without me."

Rakka closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. "I….wish it was different."

"It can't be. This is the shit fate or whatever handed out." Riddick turned and stared at her. "What? You want to divorce Terry and moved Roland and yourself into Necropolis and become Necromongers and shit."

"No." Rakka muttered under her breath. "So you plan on taking me home and leaving."

"Yeah, nothin's changed."

She huddled against him and said, "Has anything changed at all since that….night….in the woods?"

"We're older."

"I'm not afraid of you nor do I hate you anymore."

"I can change that easily."

"I know you could, but it wouldn't last. It never does for me. Has anything changed for you….other than getting older?"

"No, you're still a good fuck."

"And?"

"You're still bitchy."

"Because you make me that way."

"I do a lotta things."

"Riddick….I love you."

"Not me, the sex."

* * *

"Terry, it's not good."

"You said that already." Terry said getting agitated.

"Does your family have a record of headaches and passing out?"

"I don't know. I guess my mother said her father had headaches a lot. Just tell me what is going on!"

"You have a rare genetic disorder, Terry." The doctor replied. "And….I'm afraid that it's…..terminal."

At first Terry felt nothing. He heard the gasp from Margaret, yet he felt nothing. "Terminal. Are you saying that…I'm going to die?"

"I wish I had better news. There are some treatments, clinical trials I can get you in. We really don't know very much since it is rare and genetic. And it's only seen in few solar systems doesn't help much either."

Terry felt the weight come slowly in waves. "I'm going to die soon?"

"I can't….give you an exact date. But I can give you a rough estimation, if you wish…"

Margaret started to cry. Terry wanted her to stop crying, she was annoying. Why did she have to cry, he wasn't dying. . .he didn't want to die. "How long before I….die?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" The doctor asked softly.

"Yes."

"This is only a rough estimation. Could be more, but could be…less." The doctor paused as if Terry may change his mind in the last three seconds. "Six months."

Terry inhaled and exhaled. He really wished that Margaret would stop crying. Maybe she should have left the room after all. "What's going to happen to me over the next several months?"

"The headaches and seizures will increase, but they are treatable with meds. You may loose your vision in the later stages and it's possible that in the end you may go into coma and….never wake up."

"Is there….anything that can be done other than treating the symptoms?"

"There are clinical trials, but they are purely experimental. They may help or may make it worse. They are still in the very early stages of finding a cure. I….I'm sorry, I don't want to throw water on the fire or anything, but I don't want you to get your hopes up. Finding a cure for a disease like yours takes years and I'm afraid you don't have that time."

Terry rubbed his face. "I…I think I need to be alone for a while."

"Sure, would you like to stay here or go somewhere else?" The doctor said gravely.

"I….I'll go into the examining room. But, please, don't start calling people. Let me tell them myself."

"Of course." The doctor nodded.

Terry stood and headed for the door. His wrist was caught and he turned to see a tearful Margaret looking at him. "Marge…."

"Terry, I am so sorry. So sorry…"

"Marge, it…it's alright."

Thing was, it wasn't.

* * *

It was two hours later before Terry went and picked up Carol and Roland from the shelter. He had spent half an hour sitting alone in the examining room letting the knowledge sink in that he was dying. Death comes for everybody, but the knowing that you now have a countdown was a huge weight on one's mind.

He decided not to tell anyone, until the headaches got so bad that they would have to notice. He made Margaret swear she wouldn't tell and the doctor said that he was under doctor/patient confidentiality.

"Hey, Dad, has there been any word on Mom?" Roland asked as he slid into the backseat with Carol.

"No, I…I've been busy."

"Too busy to look for Mom?" Roland was astonished.

"Yes, I was too busy. I called the police and they will look into it and call me back." Terry replied in a hard tone he had not intended. Roland looked away with a hurt look on his face. "Roland, I'm sorry. I feel guilty about not looking for Mom, but there were some things I HAD to do."

"Alright, Dad." Roland replied.

"I'll call them again when we get back to the House."

* * *

"Get dress." Riddick said as he rose from the bed naked.

"In what?" Rakka asked as she sat up. They had another round of sex before Riddick decided it was time to leave. His seed was still trickling between her thighs and she knew she would need a quick shower before go anywhere.

Riddick padded naked to a wardrobe on the far side of the room. Rakka took her time viewing his ass as he walked, but was too worn out to get aroused so soon. He opened it and yank out a pair of jeans and a blouse, that she knew wasn't there yesterday. He tossed them and they landed near her on the bed.

"Get dress." He commanded again. "I'm takin' you home."

She looked at him as she swung her legs over the bed. "I…I thought you were going to let me leave and go home?"

"What? You don't want me to drive you?" He paused taking his own clothes from the wardrobe and looked at her.

"If you want to see Roland, then just say so." Rakka said softly as she gathered the clothes.

Riddick didn't reply. He grabbed a pair of pants and a black shirt and started to dress. Rakka took a quick trip to the bathroom to clean up the best she could without a shower and then dressed. Riddick waited impatiently for her as she dressed and brushed out her hair. When she was through, he led her out of his chambers and down the hall.

He put his hand on her neck and guided her around several turns. They rode an elevator down many floors. Twenty minutes later, they were in a hover pulling out of a garage. Riddick wore jeans, his usual black shirt, and a leather jacket. He also wore his goggles which she knew so well.

"So….do you remember baby Carolyn?" Rakka asked.

"You mean the kid Reki nearly ghosted inside?"

"Yes, she's alive. She was adopted and her parents brought her here. She and Roland go to school together. I think she likes Roland."

"I take it he's as good lookin' as his dad?"

"Very." Rakka replied and touched Riddick's arm. She felt the heat rise. She now understood why you always see teenager's making out or touching whenever they could. That nice warm feeling you get whenever you touch someone you're attracted to and….love.

When Riddick dismiss her admission of love, she didn't know whether he took her seriously or truly believed that she had mis-spoken. She was afraid of getting too far into it with him. She was afraid of being hurt and rejected. She was scared to death that he would tell her that all she was to him was a good fuck.

"My name is Johns when we get there." Riddick said as he turned onto the main highway. "Tell me when to turn."

"It's quite a ways." Rakka said. "Ummm…..so you'll be leaving soon?"

"I'm givin' the order to leave as soon as I get back."

"So you'll be gone."

"Is that a bad thing or a good thing?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? Part of you glad to see me?"

"Yes, after I got over the initial shock." Rakka replied. "I thought a lot about you over the years, Riddick. Did you think about me?"

"I don't concentrate too much on the dead." Riddick replied.

"Oh." Rakka wanted to change the subject. "Terry may recognize you. I told him, when Roland's eye shine came in, about you, but….not everything. I haven't told him about being in a slam, or prophecy about Roland, or…killing three men."

"What DID you tell him?"

"Only what I had to. He believes that I came from a violent planet, because I was so….paranoid when I first met him."

"Why did you marry him?" Riddick asked casually.

"You're not happy that I'm married?"

"I'da fucked ya it you were or not."

"I married Terry for Roland. He needed a father, and Terry had been and is a good father to him."

"But you're colder than a witch's tit to him in bed."

"I….I…none of your business." Rakka snapped.

"I can't believe the guy is still with you. He's gotta get it from somewhere."

Rakka didn't reply. Riddick glanced at her and whistled through his teeth. "Sonovbitch has been gettin' it else where."

"We had a deal." Rakka muttered. "He can sleep around, but not with my friends or people I work with."

"You disappoint me." Riddick commented. "You were ready to scratch my eyes out after you found out I've fucked around. And you're just calmly lettin' him fuck around on you."

"Well, I don't love him like I love you." Rakka snapped.

The hover screeched to a halt and Rakka wished she could throw herself out of the vehicle and run for it.

"Keep driving, Riddick." Rakka said stiffly, frozen in her seat.

"No, what the hell did you just say?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Riddick, please, don't." Rakka pleaded. "Listen, all you'll do is hurt me and I don't want to be hurt today, please." She felt tears in her eyes. "Just forget I ever said anything, please don't ruin today by forcing me to. . . , please, please, please, don't."

Riddick stared at her for a several solid minutes, watching her cry until he started up the hover and continued going down the road. Rakka wiped and rubbed her eyes. She hoped she didn't look tearful when they got to the House. They didn't say anything else the rest of the way. Rakka only spoke to tell him where to turn and he obediently followed her directions. It wasn't too long until they pulled up at the House.

Before the hover came to a complete stop, the door was thrown open and Roland came bounding out with Carol, and Terry following close behind them. He had a relieved look on his face.

"Mom!"

Rakka got out of hover in time to embrace her son. Terry followed up and hugged her from around Roland. She found herself giving him a kiss on the lips, though not as deep or sexual as the ones she had given Riddick. She never kissed Terry the way she kisses Riddick.

"Where have you been?" Terry asked after he released her.

"Well, there was a bit of a hold up between the Necromongers and our president. They just held onto me for a few days."

"Why didn't they let you call?" Roland asked.

"No, I'm afraid they didn't, but they took good care of me." Rakka assured him. She heard the door slam behind her and saw that Riddick had gotten out. "This is….Johns. He drove me here."

Terry's face went through several stages. Confusion, recognition, shock, anger, and then calm danced across his face. He held his hand out to Riddick, his face stiff and firm. "Thank you, Johns, we appreciate it."

"Welcome." Riddick replied and shook his hand.

"Hey, cool goggles!" Roland said admiring Riddick's black goggles. "Mine are almost like yours!" He tapped his with a finger.

"Thanks." Riddick studied Roland's face….so much like his own, but yet, so much like Rakka.

"Hey, is this your hover." Roland asked.

"Yeah."

"Can I drive?"  
"Roland!" Rakka said. "You are too young!"

"No, I'm not."

"Tell ya what." Riddick took a coin from his pocket. "Let's flip on it. Tails you loose, heads I win."

"Alright!"

Riddick flipped the coin and caught it easily with his hand and slapped it on the back of his other hand. "Heads, I win."

"Shoot." Roland huffed.

"Roland!" Carol said. "Tails, YOU loose, heads, HE wins. Think about it."

"That wasn't fair!" Roland whined. "I want a redo! This time I'll flip!"

"Roland, you are TOO young to drive." Rakka repeated.

"Listen to your mother." Terry said not taking his eyes off Riddick.

"Alright." Roland huffed. "I guess I'll TWO years before I can."

"We appreciate your sacrifice." Rakka retorted.

"Mom, can Johns stay for lunch?" Roland asked.

Rakka hesitated and caught Terry's eye. He had a cautious look his eyes and she swallowed and nodded her head in his direction and said to Roland, "If it's alright with Johns, he can."

"Naw, gotta get back. We'll be leaving soon." Riddick said.

"That's too bad." Rakka said and she meant it with all her heart. She gave Terry a pleading look and thankfully he understood.

"Let's go inside." Terry said to the kids.

"Alright." Roland said. "Bye Johns, it was nice meeting you."

Carol followed Roland inside. Terry waited for Rakka, but she turned to him and said, "Go on ahead. I….have to say a few things to…him."

Terry gave Riddick a look before saying, "Alright. Not too long, okay?" Rakka watch him enter the House. He glanced over his shoulder at them before shutting the door behind him.

Rakka turned to Riddick. "I….guess this is it."

"Yeah."

"I….I'm going to miss you."  
"Yeah."

"I wish things were different."

"Yeah."

Rakka touched his chest, feeling him through his shirt. She nearly choked out a sob as she felt the nice warmth of just touching him brought to her and knowing that she may never again be able to feel it again. "I…mean I will MISS you."

"Yeah."  
"Thank you. Thank you for….everything….for Roland…being understanding."

"Yeah."

Rakka touched his jaw with a hand and guided him down and kissed his lips. He felt warm and sweet. He tasted so good on her tongue. It was a kiss much like the one she gave to Terry, but it was so much more. She kissed him again, longer and deeper, she had to force herself to break it. She stepped back and said, "Goodbye, Riddick."  
"Goodbye, Rakka."

She watched him enter the hover and turn it on. He turned the hover down the road and she watched him disappear down the drive. She swallowed and blinked away more tears. She was never going to see him again.

Tirana stared out of her window. Her eyes were wide at what she saw below. Mrs. Laotaner was kissing none other than Richard B. Riddick the renowned serial killer of the Helion system, the number one escape artist of all time.

Several Slams had closed their doors to him refusing to take him for all the damage he caused during his escapes. One even armed itself with tracking missiles to destroy any police or merc ship that dared to carry Riddick in their direction.

Tirana also knew that Riddick use to work as a military pilot after he was joined the Universal Army when he was 16. Later he became a hunter for a planet which had dangerous carnivorous animals. After that he took up with a syndicate and became their top sweeper. Afterwards, something went down and he was arrested and placed into his first Slam for three years before he escaped for the first time.

Tirana should know all this. She was a reporter and she wrote a paper on him for college once. Good thing she had a camera nearby after Rakka kissed him the first time. She had several snapshots of the second kiss. Looks like she's gonna have a front page article soon.


	38. Sorrow

"What was he doing here?" Terry hissed later that night. They had watched the news about the departure of the Necro ships. Roland had already went to bed an hour ago and Rakka was at her vanity brushing her hair out.

"He wanted to see Roland." She replied. "He didn't cause any trouble. He…just wanted to see his son before he left."  
"He left? With the Necromongers? He was apart of them?"

"You could say that." Rakka replied. She set the brush down and concentrated on braiding her hair.

"You spent the last day with him?" Terry asked looking at her in the mirror.

"Yes, I did, Terry. I wanted to call and let you know I was alright, but they wouldn't let me do that." She looked away from his accusing reflection and watched her hands lace her hair. She held her breath waiting for his next question. If he she lie. _No, Terry, I didn't sleep with him. I didn't have raw and hard sex with him. No, I didn't let him touch me and use my body the way I won't let you use mine._

Fortunately, he didn't ask. She didn't know whether he already knew the answer or didn't want to know. "He's not coming back is he?"

"I don't know." Rakka said. "If he does, then he has the right to see Roland."

"How the hell can you say that? Where has he been for the last 14 years? Not here with Roland!"  
"He thought I was dead for the last 14 years." Rakka blurted out. "He knew NOTHING about Roland! He only found out two days ago!"  
"What do you mean he thought you were dead? I thought you left him!" Terry said staring at her. "From what little you told me about him, I figured that he walked out on you after you got pregnant."

"I did leave him…..while I was injured and in the hospital."

"Hospital! What happened to put you in the hospital back then! And why did he think you were dead?"

"I don't want to discuss it."  
Terry grabbed a chair from the small table in the corner of the bedroom and carried to Rakka's vanity. He slammed it down and sat down on it hard, so hard that she feared he would break it. He grabbed her hands, forcing her to drop her halfway done braid. "Rakka, you have GOT to talk me. This guy is back in our lives and it affects Roland. What happened back then? What is it that you are scared to tell me?"

"Terry, no." Rakka said trying to free her hands. "I can't tell you."

"Yes, you can. Rakka, please, I need to know what happened to spilt you two up. I know you love him, I know you do. I saw the way you looked at him when he was here."

Rakka swallowed. "You're not going to like it."

"I know."

"You may not feel the same way about me."

"That would never happen."

Rakka inhaled deeply and then licked her lips. "Terry, I…..killed a man." She watched the shock spread over Terry's face. "I did it out of pure self defense, but…he was a powerful man and I was convicted and sentenced for life in a Slam."

Terry began to suck in and exhale air repeatedly. "My God, Rakka. You were in a Slam….I…I've heard things…..what they do to women….My God…."

"No, I didn't become the slam's whore…..but….I did become….Riddick's mistress."

"He was in the same Slam with you?"

"Yes….we actually shared a cell." She saw the look in Terry's face. "Listen to me…Riddick was…..good to me in the Slam. He risked his life to keep me from….being used. No, he….didn't rape me, Terry, but…he was very insistent that I had sex with him. As payment for any blood he may have to shed to protect me."

"Insistent? Is that another word for rape in the Slam? Rakka, he…"

"He DID NOT rape me, Terry. You….wouldn't understand. I was in a SLAM. A Slam where inmates were treated like animals and they treated each other worse. You either took or were taken from. You killed or be killed; own or be owned." She touched his face. "Terry, I saw a woman in that hell who had NO soul. She was nothing, but an empty shell of a person. A breathing doll that they….bled the life out of. That would have been me if Riddick hadn't had protected me. He didn't share me or rent me out to anyone like he could have. Compare to what I saw in that horrible place, I was lucky, so very lucky that he…..owned me. He's not….a saint, but….in his own way….in some dark way that's hard to understand…..he's a good man."

"He's a serial killer." Terry said harshly. "Doctor Paterson said so himself. He's killed hundreds of people."

"No, I was with him for months. I never saw him hurt anyone that wasn't trying to hurt him first. It's so hard to explain. He's…..You'd have to live with him and be with him so understand."

Terry rubbed his face and inhaled. "My worst fear. My worst nightmare is that he would come through that door and say, 'alright, Rakka, pack up your things and Roland and let's go.' And you'd leave with him without looking back."

"You're afraid that he'll try to take Roland and me away?"

"Why not? He's Roland's father, he's the man you'd rather be with."

"I'm here aren't I? I'm not on that Necro ship with him, I'm right here with you!"

"Only because of Roland…" Terry said. "If it wasn't for Roland then. . . You would be on a ship with Riddick right now if Roland wasn't around."

It was Rakka's turn to rub her face and said, "What do you want me to say, Terry? Did you want me to tell Riddick, 'no, you can't see your son.' You try telling that man no about something and watch him do it anyway."

"Like rape."

Rakka slapped her palms on the vanity counter. "Terry, he DID NOT RAPE ME!"  
"Keep it down; you're going to wake Roland up."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore." Rakka hissed under her breath. "The man DID NOT rape me. That's it, end of discussion, no more."

Rakka stood and frustratingly unravel her would be braid. She went to the bed and flopped herself on to it and yanked the covers to her shoulders. Terry stared at her angry body on the bed and thought about the next several months.

He sighed and knew that he was sleeping on the couch tonight.

* * *

"We can't use these. They're blurry."

"But it's him!" Tirana tapped the picture with a well manicured fingernail. "See his bald head!"

"Tirana….." Her editor said. She looked up into his face. He was a heavyset man with thick eyebrows, and a goatee. He ran a hand over his bald head and said, "There are probably a million men in the universe with bald heads. All I see in this photo is a woman giving a bald man a kiss, which is not front page news."

He promptly tossed the photo into the waste basket. Tirana pounced up and rescued the photo from the trash. "You don't understand!"

"Find me proof. Hardcore evidence and maybe…maybe you'll make front page."

* * *

There was a ball going on within the Necropolis. The women were dressed in their sensuous clinging dresses, and the men wore their proud armors. The head figure of the celebrations was standing sitting in his throne watching the partiers dance and gossip.

It was dim enough within for Riddick to go without his visor and he wore the same armor he wore when he murdered Zhylaw. He scented the air and knew a woman was approaching him. She was beautiful and pale as was favorable in Necromonger fashion. She wore a clinging black dress, but it was open revealing the full cleavage of her breasts. Her hair was shaven as his and her light blue eyes glowed at him.

Her sweet lips smiled at him as she stepped up the small steps leading to his throne. He watched her, his silvery eyes tracing her lithe figure. As she drew near, there was a small silence within the grand throne room as many paused in their actions to watch. Men looked envious and the women looked jealous.

The woman sidled near his throne and drew her thin fingers along his bare arm. He inclined his head toward her and purred. She took this as an invitation and other hand touched his face. Her fingers trail up his cheek to his hairline where her fingertips brushed along the stubbles.

"Adrian sends me to give you a message, Lord Marshal." She whispered sweetly as she leaned forward, her lips centimeters from his ear.

Riddick could smell her perfume. He didn't care much for perfume. He preferred a woman's natural scent to the artificial scents that sometimes stung his nose. "And does the hacker want?" He replied huskily.

The woman didn't answer, but smiled very sweetly at him. There was a small price to be paid before she would reveal the rest of the message. He usually didn't like these little games, but now he felt that he wouldn't mind it just this once.

He leaned forward and his full touch pressed against hers. She was a greedy little whore. She lunged forward, her tongue shoving into his mouth. He accept it, lavishing it with his own, his hand touching her shoulder and urging her more into the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, the woman licked her lips like a satisfied cat that just supped on a dish of cream. "Adrian bade you to meet him within the conference chamber alone."

Riddick licked his upper lip and stood. The woman stepped away and watched Riddick leave the grand throne room smirking at all the women. She was a woman staking claim on the grand prize of all.

Her smirk was met with glares from all women, especially Dame Vaako. She glared at the woman with a fiery passion.

"Jealous, wife?" Vaako whispered into her ear. He had been beside during the spectacle of the lone woman approaching the Lord Marshall.

"Oh, no, not at all." Dame Vaako replied evenly. "Everyone knows that Dame Liao was a common whore before her conversion."

"A very skilled whore too." Vaako whispered.

Dame Vaako's eyes widen and she turned to fix her husband a gaze of fury and steel.

"Milord, I've been doing a little checking up on that woman you took into your chambers day's ago." Adrian said when Riddick arrived inside the conference chamber.

Riddick inhaled and exhaled through his nose. "What about her?"

"I know her name is Rakka Laotaner." Adrian smiled at his own investigative skills. "That she was once incarcerated for the murder of a……Chillingsworth? I believe that you were imprisoned with her within Red Hades at the same time. How interesting it is to see her alive and well after being announced dead within the Red Hades infirmary?"

Riddick had to bite back a smile. This was the reason why he made Adrian his top advisor. He was a professional hacker back on his home planet. He had been a college student getting his kicks out of hacking into government computers and top business's accounts. When the Necromongers made a short visit, he tapped into their computers and nearly set off their weapons. Riddick had demanded that the hacker that infiltrated their computer security be brought to him. He even held the planet hostage until he got the man.

How they found Adrian, he didn't know, but he was brought to him in handcuffs. He shocked the planet's nation and the Necromongers by having him become his top advisor and informant. Since then, there wasn't any information that Riddick needed or wanted, that he couldn't have access to thanks to Adrian.

"What about it? I knew her in a Slam. She was my bitch."

"She also has a 14 year old son by the name of Roland. Good kid. Looks like his father." Adrian stared into Riddick's face.

"Whattaya getting' at?"

"I dug deeper after I heard she was Hitomian. I was just curious, ya know. Their home world got screwed over the same time yours was. Guess what I found out? Laotaner is the Hitomian royal family name. I did more and more digging and I found out that her daddy was Luac Laotaner who was prince during the crisis. He escaped after the royal family was wiped out. I found some marriage records that he married a Hitomian woman who escaped with him and had a little girl named Rakka. She's the Hitomian Royal Princess and the sole heir to the throne."

Adrian studied Riddick's face and said, "I have all the information backed up and documented. It's valid." Again he didn't get the reaction he expected from Riddick. "You already knew about all of this, didn't you?"

Riddick smiled and said, "You know what's really funny. SHE doesn't know about any of it herself."

Adrian arched his eyebrows and said, "How the hell is that possible for her not to know she's a real life fuckin' princess?"

"Cuz, nobody walked up to her and told her. Her father sure as hell didn't tell her shit. She thought he was some actress's son cuz 'his family was well known on Hitomi'."

"You do know what this means?"

"She's a royal bitch and pain?"

"No. Haven't you read the Necromonger tomes?"

"Nope."

"Geez, ya think you would of all people would read them. You are their Lord Marshall after all."

Adrian never submitted to the Mark. He was still what the Necros called a breeder, though it was shocking and uncouth that he was the Lord Marshal's most trusted advisor in the court. Any who complained were quickly silenced by Riddick's steely glare or was humiliated when Adrian dug up information about their previous lives before they converted.

"Anyway there was this law….it's still in effect by the way, it was never disbanded. It was created long ago with the first Lord Marshal regarding women. Two things you'd might like to know." Adrian took a seat at the metal table centered in the room. "Can we get some damn drinks or something? My throat's getting dry just yakkin'."

Riddick went to a com and ordered some whiskey. Five minutes later, a serving girl brought a bottle and two glasses on a tray and set them on the table. Adrian watched her ass move through her dress as she walked outside and whistled after the door shut behind her. "One thing I can say for the Necromongers, they have sexy ass women." He looked at Riddick and said, "But I think your tastes are toward pretty eyed women like Hitomians."

"Lissen, ya said ya got sumthin' important to say, so say it."

"Fine." Adrian said as he took a long drink before saying. "This law was made before it became….unfashionable or whatever shit ya wanna call it…..to have babies. Any female breeder that has a male Necromonger's first son, is automatically considered a Necromonger and his woman."

"So?"

"So Rakka Laotaner belongs to you according to Necromonger law. Not as a legal wife, but as a possession, a concubine."

"She already is."

"But here's another point I should make. Everything she has, now belongs to you….so if she's a princess and is considered the owner of the the Hitomian government. . . "

Riddick took a long drink from his glass and said, "And what is this suppose to mean to me?"

Adrian got a blank look on his face. "Well….ya know….you get….stuff….more power."

"So I get a broken government of a people so fucked up that they fuck each other over."

"Hey man, I just thought ya would want to know." Adrian said defensively.

"So now I do, now I want you to go get rid of any copies you may have and delete any files you have on her and Roland."

"Man, you don't…."

"I do know." Riddick stood and towered over Adrian. "But I know and you know that she has my kid with her. She is raising my kid and I ain't doin' a fuckin' thing to fuck that up. And I ain't lettin' any asshole fuck with her, so delete the shit and say nothin' to anyone."

"Alright man." Adrian held up his hands in surrender. "I'll go and get rid of it. I thought you would want to…"

"You thought wrong."

* * *

Months passed and Rakka discovered something. She was pregnant. She went through the familiar mood swings: snapping at Roland whenever he ran in the house, crying suddenly whenever she felt the world was being unfair to her. Her breasts hurt and she was suddenly craving food so badly that she sometimes bullied Terry into getting up in the middle of the night to purchase her wanted deserts.

After crying because Roland forgot to pick bring his dirty clothes to the laundry room, she went to the bathroom and washed her face. She looked at herself in the mirror and declared silently to herself what she had already known. "I'm pregnant."

She felt her blood chill as she remember her last night with Riddick. Everyone will think its Terry's, but he would know who the true father is. Rakka rubbed her face and felt like crying some more.

* * *

She told him she was pregnant that night after Roland went to bed and no one was around to hear any yelling that was likely to happen.

"You're pregnant?"

"Yes, Terry, I am pregnant."

"It's not mine."

"I'm not saying that it's yours."

"Please, tell me that I don't know who the father is…"

"I'm afraid you do."

"Shit." Terry flopped back onto the bed and buried his face into his hands. He raked his fingers through his hair so roughly that she thought he was going to tear his hair out by the roots.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry that this happened!"  
"Why didn't you at least use protection? Birth control!"

Rakka crossed her arms beneath her breasts and looked at her feet. "Because….before they took me to the Slam….I was pregnant with Roland and they tried to abort him and sterilize me. An intern botched it up. I was still pregnant with Roland and gave birth to him. I…I didn't think I could get pregnant again."

"Waitaminute!" Terry looked at her. "You said you met Riddick in the Slam?"

"No, I said that I was his….woman in the Slam. I knew him before I was in the Slam."

"SHIT!" Terry yelled. "You two were fuckin' lovers!"  
"No! We had sex, but we weren't in love!" _At least…he wasn't. _"What I wanted to talk to you about is not about my past, but the future for us!"

"Well, your past sure as hell is affecting the future."

"I'm sorry! I should have used protection, but I didn't think I needed it. I thought I was sterilized. If I had thought I could get pregnant again I would have made him use a condom or taken pills."

"You slept with him…." Terry shook his head.

Rakka glared at him. "Terry, you have no place to talk. I know I let you, but don't you fucking dare accuse me of adultery when you yourself have slept with Margaret and others before."

"Fuck it!" Terry yelled getting to his feet. "Because you're on lockdown from the knees up to everyone, but him! He's that fucking good or are you a cold bitch to everyone, but him!"

Rakka slapped him across the face so hard that her palm stung. Terry's head rocked to the side and he tasted blood in his mouth. Rakka turned and stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. She sat on the toilet and cried into her hands.

What was she going to do? God? Was this it? Was Terry going to divorce her and leave? He had enough money to live on his own in an apartment in the city. What would it do to Roland if they divorced? It would tear him apart if they did such a thing.

She was angry at herself and Riddick. Dammit, even most teenagers knew to use protection and she and Riddick were adults. They should have known better, dammit.

"Rakka." There was a soft knock on the door ten minutes later. "Rakka, baby, open the door."

"No! Go away! You don't want to be around a cold bitch like me!"

"Rakka, I'm coming in." The door opened a crack and Terry peered inside. His face was red, but there was a strange calm over him "I'm sorry. I….was being a bastard."

"You were." Rakka rubbed her eyes and said, "I'm sorry too. I'm not perfect. I made a mistake. I've done things I've shouldn't. I wish I could go back in time and do things different, but I can't."

Terry move to kneel in front of her and looked into her tear stain face. "I….don't want things to be unpleasant between us. Not now and not ever. We need to stop concentrating on how this started and think about what we are going to do about it."

"I'm keeping it." Rakka said sniffling. "I don't want to abort it. Another time, I might have considered it, but now….I know that life….especially life as small as this deserves a chance."

"I didn't say I want to get rid of it." Terry said. "Is…he going to come back?"

She knew who he was talking about. "I don't know. I just found out I was pregnant today, so I very much doubt that he knows from light years away."

"But if he does come back will he….?"

"I don't think he'll try to take me, Roland, or this baby away. He….he understands that….he wouldn't be a good father figure. We talked about it when he was here. He's was once a wanted man, he killed a lot of people, he's been in and out of Slams, and God knows what else….He was here months ago, not to stake a claim on us, but to just see Roland. I wish I could explain to you what he's like. He is bad, but then he's not bad."

"I don't think I'll ever understand what you see in him, but I understand about keeping the baby. People are going to think its mine."

"I….This might sound bad, but I think we should let them."

Terry rubbed his chin and sighed, "So we'll be lying to the whole colony and our family."

"I know. How do you think it'll go over if I say, 'I'm pregnant and the father is the Lord Marshal of the Necromonger race, oh and he also known as Riddick, the most wanted man on five planets within three systems?'"

"You're right." Terry said suddenly feeling very tired.

"Are you alright?" Rakka asked touching his face. "You look pale. Are you having another headache?"

"I'm fine. I'm still a little stunned over the news." Terry gently shook his head from her hand and stood. "So…when do ya wanna break the news?"

"Maybe at dinner tomorrow tonight, but I want to tell Roland in the morning."

"Yeah, we'll tell him together. He's going to be a big brother. Think he'll be happy?"

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

"We're going to be cramped in this little apartment."

"We have the next apartment where the Nialas lived is empty. Maybe….just maybe….if Roland keeps his grades up….he could live there. As long as he follows house rules from us of course."

"That's a good idea. He'll have his own room, bathroom, and kitchen. It'll be like he's living on his own. It'll build good character for him."

"We could change his old room into a nursery. We still have his baby things in storage. We could get started tomorrow on Saturday. Roland would be happy to…."

"Happy to do what?" Roland appeared in the bathroom doorway. "Hey, sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop of ya. I had to take a pee."

"Roland, listen, we have something we need to tell you." Rakka said offering him a smile.


	39. OutBreak

More months passed.

Roland of course was thrilled at the prospect of being an older brother and having an apartment to himself. Alia's family was happy as was the Niala's when they were told. Tirana gave Rakka a strange look before excusing herself; she needed to drive home to check some records.

Roland was more than happy to move his things into the Niala empty apartment and help setup the nursery in his old room. He did wince when the stuff animals showed up in his room.

"Jeez, this looks like a kiddie room already!"

"It's supposed to look like a baby room." Rakka replied.

"No kidding."

Rakka went through the all symptoms of pregnancy: vomiting, cravings, and the wild mood swings. Roland treaded very carefully around her for several weeks as did Terry. She felt her body began to change over time. Her clothes became tight and she soon exchanged them for maternity clothing.

Terry watched her stomach start to swell into a small ball as he watched his health deteriorate. He kept it hidden by treating the symptoms: the headaches and vomiting with medication the doctor gave him. When he was able, he would leave work early to attend doctor appointments and treatments that helped the headaches.

The doctor told him that he was doing better than he had expected. That he might possibly live longer than expected. This brought some comfort to Terry. Maybe he might be around for the baby's birth.

Margaret called him a lot. She stayed true to her word and told no one, not even Rakka whenever she answered the com. Rakka would coolly hand him the com and wouldn't say a word as she left the room. Whenever one of his. . . "friends" called, she refused to be in the same room as the conversation. She knew about him and Margaret, but she kept her word and gave no complaint.

"Terry, when are you going to tell them?" Margaret asked him for the hundredth time.

"Marge, listen to me. I am not going to tell them anything unless I have to. So far, I've been doing find, even better than the doctors expected. Everybody is happy about the baby and I don't want to take that away from Rakka. This is her time to be happy."

"That bitch doesn't deserve shit!"

"MARGE!"

"No! Terry, no! Don't defend her! I know that that's not your baby! She should be carrying yours! She's made you miserable from day one of your marriage. You are a dying man. You've been dying physically and emotionally because of her. Leave her, Terry. I love you, I'll carry your child, and I won't be cold to you as she is."

"Marge, you listen to me and listen good. If that baby was mine, then it may have to suffer this disease also. It's GENETIC, Marge, meaning that any kid I have may have to go through this disease and die too. I'm dying. At first, I didn't want to accept nor did I want to say those two words out loud. I'm dying. I don't want the last months of my life to be in turmoil. I don't want Roland to remember me as the man who left his mother for another woman. I know you love Roland too, but you'll change from being Margaret, the nice woman who works as a nurse, to the woman who stole Rakka's husband to him and everybody. Rakka is well liked in the colony and she has good friends that love her….your reputation will be shot all to hell. I love Rakka. I know she doesn't love me back, but that's no different than what I knew when I willingly married her. Maybe I shouldn't have married her; perhaps we rushed into that before we really understood each other's feelings. Anyway, it happened and we're sticking with it. I want them to be happy as long as I can make them, because I love them both so much."

He could hear Margaret crying on the other end of the com. He swallowed and had to drive another point home. "Marge….Margaret, I think that maybe you shouldn't call here anymore. Rakka….she doesn't say anything, but I know it bothers her. And….I'm going to take time off from work, so don't be surprised if you don't see me there anymore."

"You don't want to see me anymore?" The woman who loved him with all her heart sobbed.

"I…Margaret, listen to me….I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You mean you don't want to hurt Rakka."

"I meant anyone."

"I'm sorry, Terry. I'll…leave."

"No, you don't have to…."

"Yes, I do. I can't….I can't stand to see you in pain. I'm going to see my mother on Cao."

"You're leaving the planet?"

"Yes."

"Margaret…."

"I have to go."

The com beeped off and Terry never saw Margaret again.

* * *

Soon the day before Rakka's appointment with the doctor, her life changed again. It was a very eventful day when it happened. It started early after breakfast…..

"So Mom, are ya gonna find out if the baby's a boy or a girl?"

"I don't know." Rakka said thoughtfully.

"I think I would rather know which it is and start planning for it." Terry said as he sat down and served himself some bacon and eggs. "You know, people are going to send baby gifts when the baby comes and it would be a good idea to let them whether to buy boy or girl stuff."

"I believe I feel the same way too." Rakka said dipping into her cereal.

"Which do you guys want? Boy or girl?"

"I'll be happy with either one." Rakka said. "The only thing that gets me that we haven't started thinking of names."

"We should worry about that tomorrow when we find out the baby's sex." Terry suggested.

"Too bad Roland is taken up." Rakka smirked at her son.

"Hey, not my fault!" Roland piped. "Name the kid Vin or Mathew, or Mark…..if it's a boy."

"You better get going." Terry viewed the clock on the wall. "Carol is probably waiting on you."

"Oh, yeah, I better get goin'." Roland stuffed the last piece of bacon into mouth, ignoring Rakka's prophecy of him choking to death if he didn't take small bites. He grabbed his backpack and dashed out of the apartment. Rakka winced as he clattered downstairs giving a stampede of wild horses and elephants a run of their money in chaos and racket.

"He's being rambunctious." Rakka said. "If this baby is a boy, do you think he'll be like Roland?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"I better go clean up." Rakka said and she managed to get to her feet. Her swollen stomach accidentally bumped the table. Rakka patted her belly and said, "Sorry, baby."

"You're already talking to it."

"Well, yes, they start to hear around this time."

Terry stood. He would have cracked a joke, or had something to say to the baby him, but he never did. Instead….he collapsed on the floor in convulsions.

* * *

Rakka sat out in the waiting room of the hospital. Her cheeks were stained with tears and she kept her hands on her belly as comforting her baby and herself.

After Terry had collapsed, she frantically yelled for help to Alia's apartment. Houston called the paramedics. Alia insisted that Rakka sit down and calm down while the medics came and did their job. Rakka began panicking as froth gathered around Terry's open mouth and seeing the medics work frantically to revive him.

He was taken to the hospital and Houston drove Rakka there also, following the ambulance. The doctor refused to tell Rakka anything about Terry's condition, always saying something about they'll have something after they finish testing.

She had been waiting for two hours. She forced herself to eat a snack prepared by a nurse to keep up her strength. She wanted to scream her rage and frustration. She wanted to shove open those doors, grab the doctor, and demand she be told what the hell is wrong with her husband. That's what Riddick would do.

Finally the door open and the doctor stepped through. "Mrs. Laotaner, can we go into my office?"

"Yes." She moved to stand, but the doctor held up his hand to stop her.

"Maybe this should wait…." The doctor said.

"No. I have to know. Either tell me out here or help me to your office."

"Very well." The doctor held her arm as she pushed herself to her feet. He guided her to his office. She sat down in a chair while he took his place behind the desk.

"Has Terry told you anything?" The doctor began.

"Anything about what?" Rakka said feeling sick and it had nothing to do with her pregnancy.

"His illness." The doctor inquired.

"He's been sick?" Rakka said shocked. "How long?"

"For a while. Five months now."

"Oh my God. What is he sick with?"

"It's a rare genetic disease from his mother's side." The doctor said. "I'm afraid to tell you that here's no cure."

"No cure? What are you saying?" Rakka felt her heart start to pound beneath her breast.

"It's terminal." The doctor said. "I'm sorry; I don't have any other way to put it gently. He's….dying."

"He knew about this for FIVE months…" Rakka was breathless with shock. "Why the hell didn't he tell me?"

"I don't know. For any reasons you or I may have for not telling love ones about a terminal illness."

"That was around the time I told him I was pregnant. Oh, lord." Rakka rubbed her face. "How long will he be in the hospital?"

"I….I'm afraid he took a serious turn for the worst."

Rakka felt weight settle on her chest making it hard to breath. "How bad is it?"

"This isn't easy for me to say."

"This isn't easy for me to hear." Rakka said, feeling fresh tears well in her eyes.

"He'll need to stay in the hospital for…an indefinite amount of time."

"Just tell me the full truth, doctor. I may be pregnant, but…I think I can take the news, no matter how bad it is."

"Alright, Mrs. Laotaner." The doctor said. "He had been doing well for months, much better than what I had expected. But it seemed that health has crashed. From the test results, he is deteriorating at a very fast rate. If it keeps like this, then I'm afraid….that he could looking at his last few weeks."

"My God." Rakka said stunned. It was slowly, let surely sinking. Terry was dying. He wasn't going to be there anymore, he was going to be gone in a few short weeks. She began to shake her head. No, it wasn't possible. Terry was doing fine this morning at breakfast. They talked about names for the baby and about Roland's room. Baby gifts, and Roland being rambunctious There was no way someone can be healthy one moment and then dying the next. "Doctor, he was fine this morning."

"Rakka, he has been. . .taking medication and coming in for treatments. We're unable to treat the disease, but we were able to do something for the symptoms."

"Symptoms?"

"Chronic and consistent headaches are common with this illness.:

"Oh, my God." Rakka whispered. Many times she had noticed Terry having bad headaches and many times she had insisted he go see a doctor. If only she had known. . .but she didn't notice because. . .of the baby. She had been so selfish and so thoughtless toward him. "Is there anything you can do for him now?"  
"We can make him comfortable." The doctor admitted. "He was in a few clinical trials, but they proved to be fruitless."

"Shit!" Rakka cursed. She slapped her thighs. "HOW COULD HE NOT TELL ME!"

"Mrs. Laotaner, please calm down. It's not good…." The doctor looked at her very concerned.

"Not good? Let me tell you what's not good! My husband has been lying to me for the last five months! That's not good! He's sick and you're telling me that there is nothing you can do! That's not good! He's going to die and leave my son and this child right here," she clutched her belly, "without a father! That's not good!"

"He made Margaret and I swear not to tell anyone." The doctor blurted out without thinking ahead.

"Margaret…..Margaret KNEW about this! She fucking knew!" Rakka yelled unable to hide her duress any longer. "Of course she would know! She's set her fucking sights on him since the fucking day she met him! That goddamn whore!"

The doctor stood and said, "Mrs. Laotaner, I insist that you try to relax….."

Rakka clutched her side and winced. "I….I think my….underwear is….wet…."

The doctor got onto the com and went out a distress signal and seconds later, nurses and another doctor burst and half carried and half walked Rakka out of the office, down the hall, and into an examining room. She was terrified. Was she having the baby? Did her water break? No, it's too soon for her to be in labor!

She was set onto an examining table with stirrups. Despite the nurse trying to get her to look away while they lifted her skirt and removed her panties, she saw the crotch was splotched with red. She was MISCARRYING! She cried out as her legs were lifted and settled into the stirrups.

"Mrs. Laotaner, my name is Dr. Turner." A woman in a white medical uniform said. "We're doing everything we can to help you and your baby."

"What's happening? What's happening to my baby?"

"That's what we're going to find out." Dr. Turner pushed her skirt up to beneath her breasts baring her rounded belly. She smeared gel onto her stomach and kept talking. "Have you had bleeding before?"  
"No!" Rakka forced herself to be still while the doctor placed a probe along her belly. An image appeared on the small monitor attached to the machine. It changed and whorled as Dr. Turner searched Rakka's belly for the problem.

"There it is." Dr. Turner said. "The placenta is covering your cervix."

"And what the hell does that mean?" Rakka yelped. "Is my baby going to be alright or not?"

"Yes, he's going to be fine."

"He?"

"Yes, look." Dr. Turner swiveled the probe over her belly to see a small curled figure. "It's definitely a baby boy."

Rakka stared at her unborn baby boy. "And he's going to be fine?"

"Yes, just fine." Dr. Turner assured her. "All you should need is plenty of bed rest and take it easy for the rest of your pregnancy."

"What happened?"

"Your placenta was covering your cervix." Dr. Turner said moving the probe around to images that Rakka couldn't make heads or tails out of.

"I don't understand."

"Here, let me show you something better." Dr. Turner grabbed a notepad and a pen. "Forgive me, but I was born into medicine, not art." She drew a balloon shape circle. "Here is your baby."

Inside the circle she drew a small stick figure of a person. She gave Rakka a sheepish grin and said, "I said I couldn't draw. Anyway, the placenta is usually around here." She waved the tip of the pen to upper right area of the stick figure. "But in your case, the placenta is located here." She pointed at the bottom of the balloon. "Covering your cervix."

"But I haven't been feeling bad or anything…"

"This is one of these pregnancy complications where there aren't any symptoms…except for the bleeding."

"How do we treat his?"

"Bed rest and less activity. I'll request that you stay in the hospital for a few days for observation and some tests."

"What is the worse that can happen?"

"That we'll have to perform an early c-section, but since you're not bleeding very badly, I think that resting and plenty of bed rest till delivery will help instead of medical attention."

"That's good." Rakka said very much relieved.

* * *

"Roland, you're wanted at the principal's office."

Roland looked up from his assignment to see his teacher hovering over his desk. "Sorry?"

Students stopped working to look up and see what was happening.

"Roland, the principle called and you need to go to the office."  
"I didn't do anything!" Roland stammered.

"I didn't say you did anything." His teacher said in an unusual tone. "Something has happened and you need to go to the office."

Roland stared into her solemn face and stood. "Alright, I'll go."

He headed for the door and saw Carol's worried face watching him. He gave her a shrug and left the classroom. He hurried to the office where the principal was waiting for him.

"Your mother is on the come and wants to speak with you." He said as he offered a com.

Roland took it uneasily and held it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Baby, how are you?" His mother's voice came over the com.

"Fine, but…what's going on?"

"Well….we're in the hospital, your father and I."

"What happened?"

"Well, first I had a little trouble with the baby. Nothing serious! Nothing serious at all. I just need to take it easy till I give birth."

"Oh, is Dad there with you?"

"Roland…..ummmm…..Houston is on his way to pick you up from school. He's going to bring you to the hospital."

"Why? You said you were alright."

"I am, but….Roland….your father….isn't."

"Wait…he's in the hospital too, as if he's hurt?"

"Roland, we'll talk when you get here."

"No! Tell me now!" Roland almost shouted at the com.  
"Honey, your father….is sick, very sick. I'll tell you more when you get here."

Before Roland could demand more information, the com beeped off in his ear. He swallowed and hung the com up. "My uncle is coming to pick me up, Principal Yugo."

"Yes, your mother told me. Go and gather your things. I'll send a message to your teachers and let them know that you are excused from classes for the next few days."

* * *

"Mom, what's going on?" Roland asked as soon as he entered her room.

Rakka was reclined on a hospital bed. Sarabi was at her apartment packing her some clothes and things and will come soon. "Baby, shut the door and come here. Oh, and dim the lights so you can take off your goggles."

Roland shut the door behind him and approached the bedside. He sat down in a small chair planted by her bed. Rakka ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his forehead. "Sweetheart, what I have to tell…..is going to be one of the hardest things I may have ever had to do."

"Mom? What's wrong with Dad? Where is he?"

"He's in intensive care right now. They're running tests on him as we speak."

"What's going on?"

Rakka ran her hand over his head and held him close, nearly pulling him onto the bed with her. "Your father is sick. Very sick."

"You said that over the com. How sick is he?"  
"He's been sick for a long time. And it doesn't look good. The doctors say that….he may not get better."

Roland felt like he was going to choke. "He's….going to die…isn't he?"

Rakka felt the tears that she swore she would not shed in front of Roland come and drip onto her cheeks. "I'm afraid so, baby."

Roland's face slowly twisted and something broke within Rakka when his tears started to appear. She held him and they cried together in each other's arms.

* * *

Rakka talked the nurses into allowing Roland to see his father and let him spend the night in the same the room with him. She wanted to be alone and think. The door open and Sarabi peek her head into the room.

"Sarabi!" She shifted to greet her friend.

"I brought your things." She stepped inside. She wore a long red Church dress and her hair was tied up in with a matching scarf. She held up a cloth bag.

"Come in."

"Tirana is going to bring the rest up soon."

"Thank you, you're a very good friend."

Sarabi shut the door behind her and set the bag on the bed stand and sat down in the vacated seat that Roland left behind. "How are you?"

"Not so great."

"I heard about Terry."

"Yes…"

"I'm so sorry. I can only imagine."

"Yeah."

"Rakka…." Sarabi rubbed her chin and released a breath. "The baby….it's not Terry's…is it?"

"What?" Rakka looked at her shocked.

Sarabi licked her lips and rubbed her dark hands together. "Before we came to the colony, and before I married my husband, I lived in a small community on our home planet. It was a very small village full of families. Actually, we were one big family. We worked together, ate together, celebrated good times together, and cried during bad times together. When a woman announced she was pregnant…it wasn't just her and her husband's baby, it was the village's baby. Men would congratulate the father, but we women would help the mother. We would cook for the family, clean her house, do her chores, and helped raise any other children she may have so she wouldn't overexert herself and harm herself and her baby."

Sarabi touched Rakka's hand and said, "Many times I have seen the father of a woman's unborn child. He would have this…glow, this pride in his eyes. When he and his wife were together, they would shine as if they were in their own small world. You and Terry….you two never shine, he never glows. He always had this sad look in his eyes and you…you never meet his eyes whenever you speak of the baby. Like you shame him by being pregnant."

Rakka couldn't bear to look at Sarabi. She couldn't even say a word. She swallowed a large lump in her throat.

"I counted the months and day." Sarabi said. "It's a small….private girl game we played when the men and children weren't around. To guess when conception happened. I was…always the best at calculating and guessing. You were on the Necromonger ship five months ago…..did….did someone….hurt you…?"

"No!" Rakka found her voice. "I…wasn't raped….so I guess that makes me a bad person."

"Why?"

"I…I met Roland's father."

"Roland's true father?"

"Yes." Rakka choked. "I…oh God, I'm sorry. I'm a very bad person…..I…"

Rakka told her everything. About Riddick, Hitomians, Chillingsworth, Furyans, Seer, prophecy, Blessed Children, Red Hades, three dead men, an android, and mercs.

Outside the door….Tirana was taking extensive notes as fast as she could write.


	40. Cry

"Milord." Riddick looked up from sharpening his blade.

He was inside the training room. A target practice with dummies lined up on one end and combatant simulators. Weight lifting machines dotted the grand gym. Riddick was wearing his usual black shirt and pants with black boots. His favored black goggles covered his eyes.

Adrian stood over him holding a data pad in hand. "I have something you might like to see."

"What?"

"Look, I know you told me to drop the information on that Rakka chick…." Riddick's jaw line tightened. His fingers tightened around the shiv's handle. Adrian stepped back, afraid. "I did. I deleted everything like you said. But…I kept an eye on her….for you, make sure she was alright and stuff."  
"I didn't ask you to." Riddick said in a hard voice that promised violence.

"I know, I know, but you're gonna thank me, I swear." Adrian offered the datapad as if it was a peace offering.

Riddick snatched it from his hand and scanned the information. "Medical records?"

"These are a few hours old." Adrian admitted. "I brought them to you as soon as I can. They're from the local hospital on the Yari colony. Terry, your girl's husband, has a terminal disease. They don't think he's gonna see the end of the month."

"Why the fuck should I care about him?" Riddick snarled throwing the datapad onto the floor.

"Not him actually, your girl. She's pregnant and had some complications. She's five months pregnant." Adrian held up a hand fingers spread. "We were at the colony five months ago."

Riddick stared at the datapad on the floor. "FUCK!"

His boot smashed it in two.

* * *

Rakka was brought to Terry's room in a wheel chair. She sat stiffed and afraid of what she may see or hear. He had been stabled for the last three days, but then….an hour ago….he had lost his eyesight.

It was really happening, as the doctor said it would. It terrified Rakka to the core. There had always been that inkling of hope that maybe….maybe the doctors were wrong, that Terry would be alright, and he would get better. She kept praying small miracle would happen. Now that he lost his sight, it was as if the nails on his coffin had been hammered in.

He was lying on the hospital bed with machines monitoring his vital signs. He looked pale and bags had a heavy look beneath his eyes. He even lost a lot of weight in the last few days making the hospital gown he wore seemed three times his size.

"Terry, your wife is here to see you." The nurse wheeling Rakka into the room said softly.

"Rakka?" He whispered hoarsely.

Rakka was brought to the edge of his bed. "I'm here, honey." She took his hand into hers and wince inwardly at how bony his hands had become.

"Rakka, how are you, they told me that you had some problems." He said. His eyes were open and stared into space. It gave her a very eerie feeling. Those eyes had been full of light and they often stared at her with love that she could never return.

"No, it's nothing. Nothing that bed rest can't take care of." Rakka assured him. "I'm more worried about you."  
"It'll be alright." Terry replied. "Listen, you and Roland and that baby are going to be fine."

"Terry, I…I don't know what to….say…"  
"You don't have to say anything at all."

"Yes, I do. I mean….why didn't you tell me about this."

"Rakka…"

"No, Terry, no, you didn't tell me."

"I didn't want you to know because you'd be like this now for five months." Terry whispered. "You would be full of worry, dread, and fear. I know….I've went through that for a while and I know how much it hurts. And none of it would have good for you or the baby."

He began to cough and something seemed to rattle in his chest. The nurse stepped forward, but he managed to lift a hand to signal he was alright. "Just need some water."

Rakka noticed the container of water and lifted it. She held it to his lips and watched him drink and clear his throat. He ran his fingers over his lips to wipe away droplets of water. "Better?"

"Much." Terry replied. "Nurse could you leave the room. We have…..very personal things we need to discuss."

"Of course." The nurse nodded with a small smile. "If anything happens, just press the signal switch and I'll come."

Terry waited patiently while the nurse walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. "I was going to tell you, I really was, but then….you were pregnant. Roland was happy and then you became happy about it….I didn't want to take away that happiness from you two or that baby."

"I'm sorry."

"You didn't make me sick."

"But…I didn't make anything easy for you. I was a cold bitch."

"No, don't call yourself that. Just because you're uncomfortable about sex, doesn't mean you're cold. You're one of the warmest people I know. You love Roland, you care about our friends, you're always willing to help someone, and you love kids. I've seen you with those kids in the daycare; you're like their second mother while their real mothers are away."

"You deserved better." Rakka whimpered.

"Rakka, you're talking as if sex is the only important thing in the world. It's nice, pleasurable, and loving, but there are important things too. Taking care of your child, being a good friend, and caring about other people. If you're only fault is sex, then….you're alright in my book."

"Anybody can do those things." Rakka said softly. "I…feel like I screwed you over."

"No, no, no." Terry sought for her hand and grasped it in a weak grip. "I was a young man back then. You see a pretty girl and then boom, I'm in love."

"I was a pregnant girl, Terry."

"I don't want to sound like Nathan, but….you looked hot for a pregnant girl. You still do."

Rakka couldn't help, but blush a little. "I thought you lost your sight."

"I still have memories." Terry grinned. "Maybe our marriage was a mistake, but it's a mistake I would make again."

"Roland will miss you terribly."

"I know. Poor kid's been in here taking care of me." Terry swallowed and said, "I think that he believes that if he takes good enough care of me, I'll get better."

"A part of me hoped for that too." Rakka admitted softly.

"He'll have to know."

"Know what?" Rakka felt her blood chill.

"About his real father."

"Terry…."

"Not now, wait a while after…..I die. He needs to know, Rakka. He needs to know his background since he's half Furyan and half Hitomian."

"But it'll be like he lost you all over again."

"Rakka, if Riddick comes back…"  
"He's won't."

"IF he comes back….then introduce him to Roland, not as Johns, not as a convict, not as a Necromonger, not as a serial killer, but as his father."

"I thought you wanted Roland to have nothing to do with Riddick."

"That…..was selfishness and partially fear on my part. If you know Riddick as well as you say you do, then I trust your judgment of him."

"I don't think he'll be a good influence on Roland…"  
"If he has your heart, then he'll be fine."

"Terry, I don't…."

"Consider this my last request."

Rakka inhaled and exhaled slowly. "Alright, Terry."

"Rakka, I'd love to talk more with you….but I'm tired. I'd like to sleep for a while."  
"Oh sure, yes, I'll let you sleep. We can talk more later."

"I love you."  
Rakka smiled. She loved Terry. "I love you too."

She kissed him, her lips touching his mouth. His eyebrows jumped in surprise and he responded to her kiss.

* * *

"Why am I going too?" Adrian asked as Riddick set the craft on auto-pilot.

"Because every time I'm around that purple eyed bitch, I end up around a bunch of psychopaths." Riddick replied. "I want you to a background check on every fucker we meet."

"Alright, fine." Adrian muttered.

He wore his usual street clothes which consisted of a plaid shirt, loose jeans, and snickers. His hair was mussed and tangled. It hung down to his shoulders and held all the shade of human hair colors. White, gray, blonde, brown, black, and red mingled into what resembled a dust mop on his head.

Riddick wore his usual attire: black shirt, pants, boots, gauntlets around his hands and forearms and black goggles.

"When will we be there?" Adrian asked.

"Two anna half weeks."

"What do we do till then?" Adrian asked. "Play rock, paper, scissors?"

"Cryo sleep."

"Whoa….man…I don't know…"

Riddick finished with the console and looked at him. "What? You ain't afraid of cryo?"

"Never been in cryo, fuck, never left my home planet till you hired me."

"'s jes sleep."

"I know, but it shuts down PART OF YOUR BRAIN!" Adrian said pointing at his head. "Dude, as you well know, I make my money with my brain."

"It wakes up when you wake up." Riddick said. "Give me five minutes and I'll put you in cryo first."

"I think I'll pass, man. I brought cards. I'll play solitaire for two weeks."

Riddick typed some keys and turned his seat toward Adrian and said, "Let me rephrase: you are going into cryo whether you want to or not."

Adrian's gray eyes widen and he said, "Alright, alright, no need to go sociopath on me."

Adrian grudgingly entered the cryo unit and Riddick put him under. Riddick turned his attention to himself and clamped a mini cryo brace around his wrist. He activated sleep mode and he felt the heavy pull of cryo tugging at him.

He closed his silver eyes and let it take hold of him….it was possibly the only thing he ever surrendered himself to. Fuck it, there she was again, treading through the endless graves giving him that mysterious grin of hers.

_What the fuck more do you want from me? I killed him, I killed the fuck and got control of Necromongers. Ain't that what you fuckin' wanted? Leave me alone. And stay the fuck away from my kid, dammit._

* * *

"Hey, Mom."

"Roland!" Rakka looked up from her book. She was still in the hospital. It was allowed since her husband was in the hospital and she was having problems with her pregnancy which was excuse enough to stay. She set it aside and offered small smile to her son. "How are you?"

"I don't know." Roland said as he dimmed the lights and removed his goggles. He made his way to the chair by her bed and sat down. "Dad's asleep."

"He gets tired a lot doesn't he?" Rakka commented holding out a hand.

Roland took it and held it. "He threw up this morning. It had a little blood in it."

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Rakka said mentally cursing her condition that prevented her from helping out with Terry. She hated that her son wanted to play nurse maid to her husband when it should be her job.

"Yeah…" Roland looked at his shoes and said, "He's not gonna get better, is he?"

Rakka swallowed and softly said, "I…I wish I could tell you different. Roland, I really wish I could tell you not to worry, that's he going to recover, just give it time, to keep up the hope, but that would be lying to you."

"I wish you would lie to me."

"I wish I would too, baby. I really wish I could."

Two weeks later a few things changed. What didn't change was Terry's condition. He gradually became worse and was now constantly being monitored. Roland was forced to go back to school, but he came right back to the hospital on the bus to be near his parents. There was improvement on Rakka's part, her bleeding stopped and the doctors said she could go home if she wanted. She chose to remain to be near Terry in his final days.

She was on the com speaking with Sarabi when Riddick walked into the room. She paused in mid sentence and froze staring at the large man that seemed to fill the room and her world.

She couldn't see his eyes because of the dark goggles, but she could feel his eyes roaming on her belly. "Gained a little weight there."

"Rakka? Hello, are you there? Rakka!" Sarabi's voice buzzed into her ear.

"Sa….rabi…listen, I'll call you back later, bye." She hung up the com without explaination. "Riddick…."  
"So…is it mine, or did you unlock your legs for Terry?"

"Riddick." She repeated, still in shock.

"Is it mine or not?" He walked across the floor to her side.

"I…what if it is yours?" Rakka said. "What are you going to do?"

"Hey Mom, I'm back." Roland entered the room and automatically dimmed the lights. He looked up to see Riddick standing at his mother's bedside. "Hey…I know you….you're Johns."

"Hey, kid."

"Roland." Rakka said forcing herself to smile despite her pounding heart and frantic nerves. This can't be good for the baby. "Roland, baby, listen, I need you to go and get….some coffee for Johns. And some muffins for me. I'm craving blueberry."

"Uh…Mom, it's 7:00 at night. Do you really think they'll have muffins at this time of day?" Roland responded uncertainly.

"Well, go and find out. If they have any bring them."

"Okay…in the cafeteria right?"

"That's right."

"I like my coffee black." Riddick said.

"No problem." Roland said as he turned to leave. "Want me to turn the lights up?"

"No, no, they're fine." Rakka said. "Take your time, Johns and I have a lot to talk about."

"Okay." Roland shut the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Rakka asked. "Are the Necromongers back?"

"Jes me…and some hack." Riddick replied. "Is it mine?"

"Yes, dammit, he's yours." Rakka snapped. "When did you get here?"

"An hour ago."

"Why are you here?"  
He leaned forward, large balled hands on the edge of the mattress making it sink and tilt her body over toward him. His face was inches from hers and he said in a very low voice. "Why tha fuck do you think I'm here."

"Riddick, you better back up." Rakka returned in a low tone. "You are not going to come in here and…and…do whatever the fuck you do to me."

"Never anything you didn't want in the first place." His breath blew on her face warming her skin.

"Riddick, don't think you can seduce me now. My libido has gone down the drain because of this baby. Sex is out of the questions because I have Placenta Previa."

"Oh yeah, Adrian told me about that. Your plumbing is screwed up."

"No, it's not. The placenta is…..wait….how the hell did you know that? Who's Adrian?"

"Adrian's my….informant. He finds out things for me." Riddick said as he pushed himself away from the bed and stood over her. "He told me that…Terry? Is that his name? He's in the other wing on his last legs. When did that happen?"

"Riddick…"

"Rakka…"

"He's sick. He has a terminal disease which he inherited from his family." Rakka answered. "He….lost his eyesight not very long ago. He…they think he's going to slip into a coma soon. And not wake up."

"When?"

Rakka looked at her hand which fiddled with each other on her lap. "The doctors use to say any day now…..but now it's any hour now."

Riddick didn't say anything. He walked over toward a small table lined with small cardboard paper cards. They were colored with crayons, pasted pictures, and doodles. GET WELL SOON MRS. LAOTANER was written on almost all of them. Some even say CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW BABY. Some of the words were misspelled in cute kiddie ways. He picked one up and studied it.

"Those are from my daycare class." Rakka explained. "I've been given maternity leave until after the birth."

He set it down and walked to the window.

"Roland is…I want to say alright, but he's taking Terry's illness hard. I don't think he's ever seen Terry so…weak before."

Why was she giving him answers to unasked questions?

"Riddick, how long do you plan to stay?"

"Want me gone already?"

"Every time you're around something happens!"

"I was thinkin' the same thing about you."

Rakka rubbed her face. "Why couldn't you have called first? Why do you have to show up out of nowhere like this?"

"Hey, Mom, I'm back!" Roland opened the door with a tub of muffins for Rakka in one hand and styrofoam cup of coffee in the other.

"Hey, you're back." Rakka said forcing herself smile.

"I brought your stuff like you asked. You were right, they did have muffins left from this morning."  
"Thank you, baby." Rakka said.

Roland set her muffins on the bed stand beside her and then headed to Riddick. He held out the cup and said, "It's black like you wanted."

Riddick accepted the cup and nodded his head. "Thanks, kid."

"You're welcome, Johns." Roland turned and walked back to Rakka's side. "Mom, I'm gonna go hang out with Dad."

"Umm…I think he's asleep right now."

"I won't wake him. I'll be real quiet."

"What about homework?"

"I brought it! It's in my backpack." He pointed at his book bag sitting in the corner of the room. "I'll do it and let Dad sleep."

"Have you had dinner yet?"

"Mom!" Roland moaned. "I'll eat with Dad. I'll eat, do my homework, and not wake Dad up, okay!"

Rakka held up her hands in surrender. "Alright, I was just trying to be a good mother to you, make sure you do well in school, and eat to stay healthy."

"I'm sorry." Roland muttered.

"Give me a kiss and go see Dad." Rakka said holding out her arms. Roland hugged her and kissed her cheek and she kissed his. "If Dad's awake, tell him I love him and I'll see him later tonight."

"I will, Mom." Roland said. He grabbed his bag and hefted it over his shoulder. "Bye, Johns." Riddick nodded in response. Roland left and shut the door after him.

"He loves his father." Rakka said smiling at the door.

"No, he doesn't." Riddick replied. "He doesn't even know who his father is."

Rakka licked her upper lip. "Riddick…I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the whole situation."

Riddick leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. He pushed his goggles up his brow with a thumb and regarded her with his glowing eyes. She expected him to speak, but he said nothing.

She swallowed a lump in her throat and said, "I spoke to Terry. We had a long and serious conversation about him, me, Roland, and you. He wants….he said that if you ever came back, he wanted me…..us to tell Roland about you…..about your true relationship to Roland."

"Now?"

"No! Of course not. Later….after Terry…."

"I can't do it, Rakka."

"Do what?"

"Be a father, I can't take Terry's place."

"Riddick…"

"If you want to tell him the truth, then I'll back you up, but as in moving in, giving man to man talks to him, changing this baby's diapers, helping you raise them, forget it. I can't do that, you don't want me…."

"DID I FUCKING ASK YOU TO BE THEIR FATHER?" Rakka yelled. She gritted her teeth. "You don't want Roland, this baby, or me, fine! What the hell makes you think I want you around Roland and my baby anymore than needed? Go on! Get out of here! Leave! I don't know why the fuck you bother to come!"

"Keep yer voice down." Riddick hissed.

Rakka forced herself to shove her rage down and swallow it. She refused to cry in front of him, she will not cry. Every time he shows, he makes her cry. Hasn't she cried enough?

The door burst open and Roland ran into the room. "Mom! It's….It's Dad! They said his heart stopped!"

"Oh, God…." Rakka's anger melted into terror. She reached out for the wheelchair near her bed and would have fallen off the bed if a strong arm hadn't hauled her back. She looked over her shoulder and said Riddick reaching over the bed grasping her arm.

"Mom!" Roland said.

"I'm coming, you go on ahead!"

"O…okay…" Roland said as he left the room. She could hear his shoes slapping the floor as he ran.

"Riddick, you…." She started, but was stopped when he moved around the bed and lifted her into his arms. He settled her into the wheelchair and he moved around the chair.

"Where is he?" He asked.

"Who?"

"Terry!"

"Oh, outside and to the right. I'll give directions on the way."

Riddick guided her wheelchair to Terry's room where doctors and nurses were bustling inside. A nurse came out and Rakka called out to her, but she continued past her ignoring the woman. Riddick caught her arm and almost violently yanked her around.

"HEY!" The nurse yelped as her arm was nearly broken.

"I'm Terry's wife!" Rakka said. "How is he?"

"He's stable for now." The nurse said panting. "The doctors are running some tests. One will be out to speak with you shortly."

She tugged her arm from Riddick's hand and continued on her task to get down the hall. Rakka trembled and saw Roland sitting on a bench outside the room. His elbows were on his knees and his face in his hands. She moved her hands to the controls to urge the chair forward, but Riddick pushed it forward to place her near Roland.

"What happened, Roland?" She asked.

He looked up and pulled his goggles over his eyes. "I was being quiet and doing homework and Dad was asleep. The machines started beeping real loud and I got up to see what was wrong, and then they all started running in." He motioned to all the nurses and doctors inside. "One of the nurses chased me out and I ran to get you."

Rakka patted his shoulder and said, "He's stable now. He's……" What could she say? Terry will be alright now? Hell, all the doctors did was delay the inevitable. She pulled Roland and he dropped his knees and clung to her legs. She touched his hair and allowed him to cry into her lap, the top of his head pressed into the large curve of her belly.

His hurt and hers began to eat away at her. She would do anything to keep Roland from feeling any pain or grief. But it was going to happen, it was going to happen and there was nothing she could do to stop it or soften the blow.

Dr. Riley came out with a datapad in hand. He offered them a supporting smile as he approached them. "I…maybe Roland might like to see his father now. He's awake and he might like to talk with you, Roland."

Roland got to his feet. He looked at Rakka with uncertainty. Rakka forced herself to smile and said, "Go ahead, baby." Roland entered the room and shut the door behind him.

Rakka turned to the doctor and said, "How bad is it?"

Dr. Riley sighed deeply. "Mrs. Laotaner, I don't think he'll make it through the night."  
Rakka swallowed. "Is he in pain?"  
"No, he's very comfortable now, but he can go at any moment now." Dr. Riley swallowed and said, "Now would be a good time to say goodbye."

Rakka was prepared for this speech and she nodded and closed her eyes. "I understand….and…thank you. As long as there's no pain it….it'll be better."

* * *

"Heya, sport." Terry whispered from his bed when he heard the door open and close.

Roland crept to his side and said, "Hey, Dad."

"How do I look?" Terry asked.

Roland studied white face, bloodshot eyes, and sweaty forehead. "You look alright."

"How's Mom holding up?"

"She's still fat and pregnant."

"She must be lonely outside by herself."

"Johns is outside with her."

"Johns?"

"You know before Mom got pregnant. Big, bald guy. With goggles like mine."

"Oh." Terry smiled and said. "Do you like Johns?"

"I don't know. He looks cool." Roland admitted. "I don't know him that well."

"Well, you be polite to him and make him feel welcome here." Terry said. "Son, go dim the lights, I want to talk to you eye to eye."

Roland nodded, and turned walked to the far wall and dimmed the lights. He walked back to Terry's side and lifted his goggles to his forehead. "Is this better, Dad?"

Terry smiled looking into Roland's eyes. They were silver with a tint of blue and fringed with deep blue. They shone with tears. "I'm sorry, son."

"Dad…why did you have to get sick?"

"I didn't want to get sick." Terry said. "I wanted to stay with you guys much longer than this, but it's just not in the cards."

"It's not fair!"

"Life's not fair. I know you hear it all the time whenever you don't get your way, but it's a sad fact of life."

"Aren't you scared to die?"

"No, I'm not. I made peace with myself, your mother, and God. I'm more concerned about you and your mother though."

Roland swallowed and closed his eyes. Terry touched his face and said, "Listen to me, son. I want you to promise me, that no matter what happens, no matter what you are told that you will always stand by your mother and your baby brother. She'll need you more than ever after I'm gone."

"Alright, Dad. I promise."

"And no matter what…I want you to know from me, this is me talking, no one else. That I love you, you are my son and I loved you from the minute you were born….hell, I loved you before you were born and I'll love you till after I'm dead. You remember that and DON'T you believe anything anybody says."

"I won't, Dad." Roland promised. "I love you too."

"You take care of your mother and your brother, okay."

"I will, Dad."

"You be strong for them too. It's alright to cry as long as it's not all that you do."

"Okay, Dad."

"I need to speak with Johns."

"O…okay, Dad." Roland stepped away from the bed. "I…I'll see you later."

"I'll see ya later too, son."

* * *

Rakka sat in her wheelchair and Riddick sat in the vacated seat against the wall near her and Terry's room. Roland came out donning his goggles. "Mr. Johns….Dad says that he wants to speak with you."

Rakka started and Riddick got to his feet. He walked past Roland and into Terry's room wordlessly.

* * *

Terry wished he could see the large man, who killed countless people, been known as a sociopath, been in and out of many Slams, the last of a spiritual warrior race, had a rare eye shine job, became a leader of the most powerful army in the universe, Roland's father, and had his wife's heart for the last 14 years.

"You're Riddick." Terry said. "My wife told me a few things about you."

"She told me a few things about you."

"I wish I could kick your ass."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I know I can't, but I wish I could." Terry said as he turned his head away. "But Rakka loves you and Roland and that baby will need you."

"That bitch doesn't give a shit about me and Roland doesn't need me. She told me about telling Roland, and I'm down with that, but I….."  
"Are you afraid?"

"I ain't afraid of shit."

"I think you are."

"What the fuck do you know?"

"Fatherhood can be scary. I know. I was scared when Roland was born." Terry turned his head to look back at Riddick. "Here was a baby, a little person who was going to grow up to be somebody. Somebody who was going to call me Daddy, but I knew it was going to be alright. I had my sister and her husband to help me, my parents were alive then, and I had Rakka there to help too. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was HER baby, but when I married her, I became Roland's step-father…..I understand why you're hesitant."

"I am not hesitant."

"Listen, I don't like you. But you are Roland's father and that counts." Terry swallowed. "Rakka….she loves you. She won't admit it and she'll deny it, but she loves you very much. And Roland does need you. He's going to go through a tough time in his life and he's going to need someone to…."

"He has Rakka."

"Of course. Mothers are wonderful, caring, endearing, and so on….but every boy needs a father for guidance and support. And Rakka will need you. She's strong, which I think she is because of you, but she needs help too." Terry closed his eyes. He felt very tired, but he needed to finish. "Promise me you'll at least make sure they'll be alright. I can't anymore, but you can."

"Whatever."

"Good. I want…to see Rakka next."

"Fine."

* * *

Riddick stepped outside and toward Rakka. "He wants you."

"Alright." Rakka arranged for her wheelchair to roll toward the door. Riddick held it open and allowed her to go inside. Riddick shut the door behind her.

* * *

She wheeled herself to Terry's bedside. She reached out and touched his hand, and then curled it around and held it. She cupped her hands around his hand and kissed his fingers. "How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Riddick's back."

"Yeah."

"What did you say to him?"

"Just man to man talk about you and the kids."

"I can't picture him having a man to man talk with anyone."

"Give him time, in less than six months he's suddenly the father of a 14 year old and an unborn baby. That's a lot to heap on anyone."

"I know." Rakka said. "You're still serious about us telling Roland the truth?"

"Yes. He needs to know." Terry swallowed and said, "I have the feeling he'll learn the truth one day, and it would be better if he learned it from you two than from somebody else."

"I understand." Rakka said. "Riddick's willing to go through with it."

"Yeah…Rakka, listen. I know we already said everything we needed to say to each other. I just want you to know, that I regret nothing. I'd married you again if I could."

"I'd married you again too." Rakka said stroking his cheek. She felt like she took him for granted. She tried, God knows how she tried to give herself wholly to him.

She remembered one night early in their marriage where she had tried. They kissed, touched each other, but something was missing for her. She couldn't go through with it all the way. His frame was too small, his skin was too pale, his eyes…..oh God, the problem was that he wasn't Riddick. Each time she touched his head, she expected to feel rough stubbles, not soft blonde hair. She stopped it and she never tried again.

"I'm sorry, Terry." Rakka said. "I am so sorry."

"You said that already."

"Terry, I am so afraid of what's going to happen."

"Riddick's there with you."

"But he…"

"Listen to me. You told me about how he took care of you in the Slam, I'm sure he'll help you out with the kids."

"I…"

"He doesn't strike me as a kind of man that would leave you up the creek without a paddle."

"You don't know…"

"I do know. He's here, isn't he."

"He just showed up out of no where less than an hour ago."

"He came directly to you, Rakka. I think you mean something to that man, more than you think."

"Terry, if Riddick heard you say that, he would laugh in your face."

"I love you, Rakka."

"I love you, Terry."

"I'm tired, I need….to sleep."

"Yes, I understand."

"Good night, Rakka."

"Good night, Terry."

She gave him a warm kiss on the lips and placed his hand on his chest. She turned her wheelchair around and headed to the door. She knocked on it lightly and it was opened and she left the room. It shut behind her, leaving Terry alone.

Terry said a soft prayer under his breath for his family. After he said amen, he closed his eyes and curled comfortably in the comforter. He fell asleep and never woke up.

* * *

In the morning, Rakka cried. She reclined on her hospital bed and sobbed into a tissue. Riddick was leaning against the wall showing no emotion. Roland was with Alia for now, and Rakka didn't want him to see her so upset.

"Riddick…." She whispered.

"Yeah…"  
"How long are you going to stay?"

"I don't know."

"Please, stay with me." She held her hands out to him.

He looked at her and said, "I thought you said you couldn't have sex?"

"Riddick!"


	41. New

"You can sleep in the extra bedroom in Roland's apartment." Rakka said as she unpacked her things.

"No, I'll sleep on the couch in the living room. Adrian can take the bedroom in Roland's apartment." Riddick replied. He was sprawled on the couch watching her taking her things out of the bag from the bedroom.

Rakka swallowed a lump in her throat. "Riddick, I don't think that's going to look good to people."

"I don't give a fuck." Riddick replied.

"I have a better idea." Rakka said. "You two can sleep in Rita's old apartment. The reason why we gave Roland the Niala's apartment was because they said it was alright. We haven't seen Rita's ugly ass since I kicked her out, so she's not around to say no."

"Waitaminute, you kicked someone out of this House?" Riddick looked at her with interest. "When was this?"

"Shortly after Roland was born. It's…it's a little tale that…that's told a lot around here."

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You kicked her ass?"

"No."

"What did you do to kick her out?"

"I threw her shit out the window."

Riddick nodded his head as if he had done something like that before. "And locked her ass out when she went out to get 'em."

"Well, I did lock the door after her, but I really think what did it was that I said I would throw her ass out of the window if she didn't go."

"Damn, she must have done something to piss you off bad."

"I don't want to talk about it. She's somewhere else and that's all that matters." Rakka said firmly. She put away her things and slipped the suitcase into the closet. "Want to go look at your temporary apartment?"

"Naw." Riddick replied.

"How long can you stay?" Rakka asked. "I mean don't you need to get back to the…. 'throne'?"

"Hey, I'm the Lord Marshal, I can do whatever the fuck I want."

"Riddick, listen, I know there's nothing I can do to stop you from doing whatever you want, but can you at least take a few things into consideration if you are going to stay here?" Rakka walked into the living room and regarded him with cool blue-violet eyes.

Riddick looked up at her with a smile tugging at his lips. He looked at her with amusement as if she was a cute little dog doing flips to catch his attention.

"First of all, please have consideration for everyone else in the House. Alia abhors swearing. The last time I swore over stubbing my toe, she gave me the most shocked look." Riddick made a laugh inside his throat and Rakka let that go. "Another thing, could you wear something else. I'm not trying to be nitpicky or be a bitch about it, but you look like a convict or you're from some gang. Could you at least wear jeans and shoes instead of combat boots?"

Rakka padded to the kitchen and asked, "Roland and I have to leave for the funeral at 1:00 and we'll be back by 3:30 for the Wake, what are you and Adrian going to do?"

"Hell, if I know."

"You could come if you want."

"Naw."

"Alright." Rakka nodded. She got out two apples and a knife. "I still haven't thought up a story for you two. I can't say 'here's Riddick, he's Roland's father who happened to come for a visit and brought his assistant, Adrian, who's an ex-hacker by the way'."

"Jes say we're old friends."

"My old friends? My God, Riddick. You know how people think. They're going to think you're an old boyfriend who just so happens to show up on the same day my husband dies."

"Make something up."

"Riddick, you are not making this easy for me."

"Have I ever?"

"No." Rakka admitted. She drew a knife from a drawer and began slicing an apple. "If people start asking questions, I'll try my best to make something up."

"You do that."

"Do you want anything to eat? I know a lot of people are going to bring food as condolences so there will be plenty to eat." She held up a slice of apple and looked up to see that Riddick was right beside her.

"Riddick…." She gasped very startled.

His hand touched hers and his rough fingers trailed up hers and around the apple slice held in her fingers. He lifted both her hand and the slice up to his lips. His tongue darted out and fleck over her fingers and the juicy slice. He bit a chunk of the piece of apple and chewed.

Rakka felt her libido rise and her body burned. She found her other hand running up Riddick's side and feeling his heat flowing into her skin. Her hand rose to his chest above his heart.

She gave him a gentle push and said, "Riddick, don't, okay. I know I've said this a hundred times, but this time I am serious. We need to behave ourselves." She took her hand and the slice away from his mouth and stepped back. "We can't act like a couple of horny teenagers anymore, Riddick. I have placenta previa and Dr. Turner had forbidden any sexual intercourse for me until this kid is born. And….it wouldn't feel right for me. In fact, it wouldn't be right at all."

Whether Riddick heard her or cared, she didn't know. He turned, left the kitchen, and walked out of the apartment.

The funeral was sad. Rakka hadn't been this sad or upset since the day her mother died on Haven. Rakka was surrounded by friends and women who worried over her condition. She cried and Roland stayed by herself, but didn't cry. His silver eyes were teary, but no tears fell….yet. Carol stayed near him throughout the funeral.  
The Wake was better. People stood around in dark clothes eating, drinking, and talking softly about Terry in low voices. Many people came to her and gave their condolences….and food.

She didn't see Riddick, but she did see Adrian hanging out with Tirana a good deal. She went upstairs to retire for the night and allow Alia and Houston to tend to the guests. Riddick was sprawled on the couch was he was earlier that morning.

Rakka wordlessly went to the bedroom to change and lay down for a while. She was exhausted from her day. She probably did more than she should have. Dr. Turner was stressful on that Rakka should cut down on most of her activities and get plenty of bed rest. That's exactly what Rakka planned.

* * *

Dr. Turner flipped through some files on Rakka's pregnancy. She made some checks onto a file and then turned to a com. She dialed a signal and waited while it logged onto a certain signal. It gave a seeking beep until she got someone on the line.

"Hey, I have a candidate. Yeah, Dad died two days ago and Mom is an exhausted single mother now with a 14 year old son. Birth date is in mid Winter and . . ..yeah….yeah, it'll be ready…..don't worry, I'll do my part and I have been doing my part. You just have my money ready for me after she delivers. Yeah, so far it's healthy and it's a boy."

Rakka spent the next few weeks getting plenty of bed rest. She read through several book series and watched Vid discs of whole seasons of rerun sitcoms. Riddick remained aloof and Adrian saw more of Tirana. Roland was very elusive hanging out with Carol and school. He came home, did homework, ate dinner silently, and went to bed. And repeated the next day.

She worried about him. Whenever he came home in the afternoon, she was asleep. She was getting fed up with the bed rest thing, but she was sure that Dr. Turner was serious that Rakka stay off her feet as much as possible, if she wanted have a healthy birth.

"Riddick, how long are you staying?" She asked one day while she was eating her breakfast at the table. Roland had left earlier for school after downing his oatmeal wordlessly. After he left, Riddick came into kitchen as silently as his son had left, and fixed himself a cup of coffee.

He was sipping coffee and he regarded her with silver eyes. He was able to go without goggles in Rakka's apartment. Ever since Roland eyes became shined, they had fix the lights to be constantly dimmed so there was no accidents with the lights hurting Roland's eyes. It had been this way ever since. "Want me to leave?"

"I was just curious." Rakka looked away and munched on her cereal.

"Do you want me to leave?" He repeated.

"Forget I said anything."

"Answer me."

"Leave me alone."

"No."

Rakka pushed her cereal away and managed to stand. Riddick got to his feet. "RIDDICK! Stop it! Stop it, okay! I'm sorry I said anything."

"I'll leave after we talk to Roland about me."

She looked at him amazed. "You…mean that?"

"Yeah, I'm waiting on you to tell Roland."

"I…not yet….He's still dealing with Terry's death."

"Fine."

* * *

It was hard having Riddick around and not jumping his bones. She felt more easily aroused than she ever did not pregnant. Sometimes she wanted to say to hell with placenta previa and just let Riddick fuck her brains out like she knew he wanted to. Only thing stopping her was the baby's health, she forced herself to read Dr. Turner's strict instructions about no intercourse.

Why couldn't he have withered with age? Why does he still have to look like he did 14 years ago? What with his handsome face and beautiful masculine body? It made her feel old inside.

It was why she felt happy and flattered whenever he touched her. It was nothing unnecessary where someone would go running saying that she was screwing Johns before Terry was cold in his grave.

Whenever he ran his fingers up her back while she washed dishes and he happened to stand close beside her. When she sat beside him at dinner, she couldn't help, but drew her leg against his and feeling him nudge hers in return. It felt so forbidden and to thrilling.

In the middle of the third week he changed his clothes. He wore jeans, work boots, and white undershirt. It was a nice, more comforting change, but she didn't dare say thank you or give any sign that she had any acknowledgement that he changed at all. She knew he would go right back to wearing his usual attire and possibly worse. Start wearing leather…..Riddick in leather…..hmmmm….stop it.

Adrian brought up his comp equipment and set up a….lab is what Rakka wanted to call it. The bed room floor was covered with wires, lines, and cords. A large computer with several monitors covered two desks set side to side. He even had a tank with pumps within the room used as a large cooling system for the large computer which he called his Database.

Adrian took to wearing rings in his face. Earrings lined his left ear and he had one in his nose, at the corner of his lip, and one at his left eyebrow. Rakka didn't approve, but she refused to be a bitch about it, as long as Roland didn't take an interest.

Roland didn't take much of an interest in anything anymore. His daily schedule was of getting up, eating breakfast, going to school, coming home, doing homework, eating dinner and going to bed and repeat again the next day. Rakka tried talking to him, but he was withdrawn answering with one syllable answers. Yes or no, sure, maybe, oh, and it was driving her crazy.

She considered talking to Riddick about it, but she didn't want to seem like she was pushing Riddick to become Roland's father. It was like she was treading on thin ice with everyone. Her son, Riddick, and herself.

She felt frustrated, like she knew something had to be done or something needed to be said, but she didn't know what. She was afraid that if she rushed into anything, it would all fall apart. It was all being held together by thin strings and any moment it would collapse on her.

* * *

"Riddick."

"What?"

He was reclined on the couch watching the news vid. She had padded into the apartment wearing her nightgown and robe. He was shirtless and barefooted wearing only loose fitting pants. He swung his legs over the edge of the couch so he was sitting up.

His goggles were off and his silvery eyes were open and clear. He hadn't been sleeping. She couldn't remember if she had ever seen him sleep. She sat down beside him getting off her feet.

"I'm worried about Roland."

"He seems alright to me." He muttered.

"Well, you haven't been around him the last 14 years." Rakka snapped without thinking. She sighed and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I….I'm just frustrated and worried."

They sat there silent for a few moments. Then Riddick spoke… "I knew this kid once."

"Huh?"

"This was years before I met you, 3 or 4 years before our run in on Haven. I got caught by the 'real' William Johns."

"Wait…Johns isn't just a made up name?"

"He was a real blue eyed devil with a fake tin badge." Riddick said leaning back into the cushions as he remembered an early chapter in his life. "He was one of the best mercs that ever tracked me, I gotta admit. And there had been a LOT."

"I take it he's not around since you're able to use his name so freely." Rakka guessed, putting her arms around her rotund belly.

"I killed him; actually…I cut him and left him to die."

Rakka rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Is this a story of your glory days? If it is, then I don't want to hear it."

"No, just lissen. Johns caught me after I escaped from Butcher's Bay and he was transportin' me on this passenger freighter. It was carryin' different unlucky fucks, colonists, voo-doo nuts on their way to New Mecca, and this kid." Riddick shifted uncomfortably.

Rakka sat still and said nothing. She knew she was being invited into a rare occasion of Riddick talking about his past. It wasn't easy for him to talk about it and she didn't want to make him to stop.

"The ship crashed on this abandoned planet and yours truly escaped from his holding cryo. They caught me again though and we made a 'deal'. I behave myself and help them get off the rock and Johns would cut me loose. Not a chance in hell, fuck it, I could smell the goddamn trickeration as the sonovbitch gave me the offer, but it beat being chained up and left to die. The scary thing about this planet was the monsters underneath the surface. Only thing they were scared of was sunlight." A smile tugged at his lips. "And wouldn't you know it; the planet's three suns were going to have a fuckin' eclipse."

"Shit." Rakka breathed.

"Deep shit." Riddick replied. "People were gettin' eaten one by one. Johns too. This kid….the kid's name was Jack. Everyone thought she was boy cuz, she cut her hair so short and she was….she wasn't developed. You know, her chest was flatter than a piece of paper and she was a tomboy. Fuck, she had ME fooled for a while."

"What about her parents?" Rakka asked.

"I never asked and she never said anything. She was a runaway. I could smell it that she was. She took to me, I don't know why and I don't think I ever will. She chose me over all the other guys in that godforsaken group to take after. She shaved the rest of her hair off and found some broken water goggles and started wearing them. Even wanted her eyes shined like mine."

Rakka fought to keep from smile as an image of a young girl imitating Riddick crept into mind. "How old was she?"

"Eleven." Riddick said. "The only survivors off that planet was: Jack, a religious man, and me. We got off the planet in a skiff and road the ghost lanes waitin' for someone to pick us up."

Rakka felt she knew the next part of this story. "But you got picked up by a merc ship."

"Yeah, owned none other than Chillingsworth's daughter."

She remembered back years ago to a security vid she had seen in Chillingsworth's dining room. "I believe I may have seen Jack…an old vid of Jack, on the security vid of you with the foam bubble. Back on Chillingsworth's ship during all that mess. I thought she was a little boy too."

"A lot of shit went on in that ship. I killed a lotta dumb fucks and monsters and managed to get our asses off that heap. But…."

"Riddick…."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt but….I got to get some ice cream."

Riddick stared at her. "Rakka, this ain't exactly story time where you eat a fuckin' snack!"

"I'm sorry, but I am CRAVING chocolate. I got to have it now. I'll be right back." Rakka shifted forward. "Help me stand."

Riddick muttered something under his breath that Rakka felt for sure was better if she didn't hear. His hand slide behind her and propel her to her feet. She waddled around the couch and out of his apartment and into hers. She headed to the freezer and opened it. The carton of chocolate ice cream was gone.

"Roland…." She growled under her breath. She looked over into the trash and there it was: the empty ice cream carton in the trash.

* * *

The door opened and Rakka whirled into the living room of Riddick apartment. "Do you have anything chocolate?"

"What?" Riddick turned his head to look at her.

"I got to have chocolate." She walked to the kitchen and yanked open the freezer. Nothing. "Is Adrian here?"

Riddick pointed to the door of the second bed room. She marched to it and opened the door. The room was dark and the monitors made Adrian glow in an eerie blue illumination. He looked up from his Database and said, "Mrs. Laotaner?"

"Do you have chocolate ice cream?"

"No."

"I smell chocolate."

"I got a pack of chocolate cakes."

"Give them." She held out a hand.

"But…"

"Give me the fucking things now."

"Yes, ma'am." Adrian opened a drawer and drew out several packs of chocolate cakes. He offered them out as a pagan priest would offer a sacrifice to an angry goddess.

Rakka snatched them from his hand, slammed the door shut, and ripped open a pack. Riddick was standing in the living room staring at her. "Did you just fuckin' ripped Adrian's food from him?"

Rakka bit into a cake and savored the creamy feeling bursting inside her mouth. "Yes, I did. What are you going to do about it?"

"Cop the attitude; you don't know who you're dealin' with."

"I'm sorry, just let me get this into my system and I'll calm down." Rakka said moving to sit on the couch.

"You didn't find any chocolate in YOUR apartment?"

"No, nor did I find any in Alia's….or Yuals…….nor in the common House kitchen…..I even woke Roland up to see if he had any stashed somewhere in his room."

"Goddamn." Riddick muttered as he retook his seat on the couch.

"So what happened on the merc ship?" Rakka asked.

"I killed a lot of things and managed get our asses off the heap." Riddick said. "Before that….Jack killed someone."

Rakka stared at him and swallowed a mouthful of chocolate. "Let me guess….Chillingsworth's daughter."

"The woman had a gun and had shot me. Nothin' serious, just a flesh wound. Jack picked up a gun and shot her before she could shoot again."

Rakka licked her lips. It must have been hard for something like that to happen to a girl at such a young age. She remembered how rough it was for her after she killed the boy that tried to rape her so many years ago. . . and then the others.

Riddick leaned his head back and looked at her. "Rakka, she was proud of herself and she expected me to be proud of her too."

Rakka stared back at him.

"Rakka, the girl IDOLIZED me. Fuck, she wanted to BE me. There was the first few hours of shock where she was quiet and her eyes…..were wide. A few hours after we left the heap she kept asking me how I would have done. If maybe she should have aimed for the heart instead of the head. Rakka, she SLEPT with the gun she used to kill that woman as if it was a fuckin' teddy bear!"

"You had to leave her."

"It wasn't pretty." Riddick said. "Jack had this….idea that A. I was gonna stay with her forever or B. I was going to take her with me. She never considered C. I was going to leave and she not come with me."

"I think I can imagine how hard she took it when you left."

"You have no idea."

_"Riddick, where are ya goin'?"_

_Riddick felt the weight settle on his chest and spine. He didn't know how she did it, but for some strange way she had ESP knowledge that he was going. It was the ESP that kids get sometime at inconvenient times._

_"I'm leaving."_

_"When are you coming back?"_

_He turned to face her. She was wearing a large man's shirt as a nightshirt and her long thin legs were bare as were her feet. The shirt was black, she requested black. _

_"I ain't comin' back."_

_"Give me a few minutes to grab some stuff and I'll go with you."_

_"No." Riddick said. _

_"Huh?"_

_"Jack, you're not comin' with me."_

_Jack had a blank look on her face. "Yes, I am. I'm coming with you."_

_"No, kid, you can't."_

_"Let me get some things and I'll be ready." She disappeared into the apartment._

_"Jack, what is wrong?" Imam's rough, but fatherly voice sounded within It was deep from sleep, obviously Jack must have woke him up with her high voice.. _

_"Me and Riddick are leavin'!" Her voice piped from inside. _

_"Fuck." Riddick hissed under his breath. He considered walking to the end of the hall, going down the stairs, out the front doors, and gone before she got back. _

_Imam stepped out of the apartment and looked at Riddick sympathetically. "I know it's hard."_

_"What's hard?"_

_"It's one thing to have someone taken from you, but it's even harder to leave them of your own accord."_

_"It's not hard."_

_"It's for the best." Imam encouraged. "You have been…a dear friend…unusual, but dear."_

_"Geez, Holy Man, yer makin' me weep." Riddick replied. "Yer sure you two are gonna be okay?"_

_"Yes. I have friends and family here. I will make sure that she will be alright, Riddick. I will see that she gets the help she needs to over come…the ordeals we have faced."_

_"I'm ready to go!" Jack appeared wearing pants and shoes, but keeping the black shirt. She had donned a new pair of goggles she found in a store after they arrived on New __Mecca__. They were water goggles, but they were black like his. _

_"Jack, you are not going with me." Riddick said in a hard voice. _

_"Yes, I am." Jack said. _

_"Jack, no." Riddick shook his head._

_"Riddick, yes."_

_Imam touched Jack's shoulder and said, "Jack, we should talk."_

_"What is there to talk about?" Jack said shrugging her shoulder from Imam's hand. "I have to go with Riddick now. It was fun, Imam, but me and Riddick gotta go.."_

_"Jack, you can't go with me." Riddick said. He had to turn into the bad guy now. It was something he should have been to Jack in the beginning. "You'll only slow me down."_

_"What?" Jack turned to stare at Riddick. "No, I won't!"_

_"Jack, you could barely keep up on the Kubla Kahn. I would have left your ass if I didn't think Imam would bitch about it."_

_"I was keeping up!"_

_"Jack, I did well without you before I met you, and I will do better without you again."_

_"I SAVED you!" Jack said desperately. She dropped the bag and went down to her knees and began rummaging through it. She drew out Junner's gun. Imam stepped back surprised and uncomfortable around the firearm. "See! I saved you on the ship when that crazy bitch tried to kill you…You need me."_

_"Lucky shot." Riddick snapped. _

_"Put that thing away!" Imam said. "You are going to end up killing someone!"_

_"I already killed someone!"_

_"Yes! One person! One person from a LUCKY shot. I want to keep it that way." Riddick turned and headed down the hallway._

_He could hear Imam talking. "Jack, listen to me. Riddick's life is very dangerous. It's not for a child. No child should have to…"_

_"RIDDICK!" He felt the small, thin hands grasped his arm from behind. "Riddick, please, don't leave! Take me with you! I'll get better! All you have to do is teach me! Please, take me with you, I won't get in the way and I…"_

_He shoved her away more roughly than he meant to. She fell on her butt on the floor. He kept walking. She started to scream after him. _

_"RIDDICK!__ COME BACK! I WON'T GET IN YOUR WAY! PLEASE, PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE! RIDDICK!"_

_He could hear her trying to follow him as he walked across the lobby and walked out into the night. He could hear her screaming his name into the night as he disappeared into a nearby alley._

_Sometimes…he still heard her desperate cries for him._

"Riddick, you did the best thing for her. She may have been tough for a kid her age, but the life you lead…it's so dangerous. She was better off."

Riddick shook his head. "She wasn't better off. Rakka, she joined up with mercs after she turned twelve."

"What?" Rakka stared at him in shock. "I didn't know that mercs recruited children!"

"They don't. They slaved her out. Sold her to Rygenkolls. They…brutalized her."

Rakka felt her blood chill in her veins. Years ago, before she became a mother, she would have thought, 'that's an awful thing to happen to a child', but now after giving birth to Roland, her mind and world was open. To imagine something as sick as a 12-year-old being sold to a brutal race as the Rygenkolls made her want to vomit.

"I saw her again years later. Two years after I met you, two years after I was told you were dead." His tone was bitter. "She was….was what she wanted to be. A killer. Like me. I got caught again and sent to Crematoria."

"Isn't that the planet whose sun is so close that it burns the surface of the planet during each day?"

"How did you know that..?"

"Discovery Channel." Rakka replied. "I've been lying in bed for the last several weeks. If there's nothing to read, I watch whatever I can."

"She changed her name to Kyra. She was sent to the Slam for murder. She killed all the Rygenkolls that slaved her and some other people."

"She was sixteen years old." Rakka said carefully. "When you saw her again."

"Yeah."

"Did you….never mind, it's none of my business."

"No, we didn't fuck."

"I wasn't going to ask you that!" Rakka was aghast. She stared at him, eyes very wide. "Riddick, surely you wouldn't have……."

Riddick's tongue rolled along the inside of his cheek and he leaned away from her.

"Oh, Riddick…" Rakka was shocked.

"She became a woman. A fuckin' metamorphosis. Last time I see her, she's this stick figure of a kid, and then she's a woman that filled out in all the right places."

"Sixteen years old! Riddick, she was still a kid!"

"Rakka, when I was sixteen I was fucking my foster sisters."

Rakka rubbed her forehead.

"What? Jealous?"

"NO!" Rakka snapped. "Where is Kyra anyway? With the Necromongers?"

"She's dead. She died the day I became Lord Marshall." He seemed to sink into the couch. "She died for me….just like Carolyn….."

"Carolyn….?"

"Carolyn, the woman I named Carol after." Riddick said. "I met her back at the crash, same place I met Jack. She was the only surviving crew member of the ship that crashed. She….died for me."

Rakka was quiet. She felt overwhelmed by all this information she was given. "Riddick, why….did you tell me all this? You're usually not this open."

Riddick swallowed. "Have you thought up a name for the kid?"

"The baby? No…we….Terry and I were going to start on names after we found out the sex of the baby. But we didn't get to know until after he got sick and then….I'm sad to say I haven't given it much thought."

"Jack. Name him Jack."

Rakka smiled sweetly. "I…will, Riddick. I'll name him Jack."


	42. Truth

Rakka studied her hands. Was she suppose to say something else? Was he going to say anything more? It was interesting and nice to hear him talk. He has a very nice voice.

"Riddick, what are you thinking?"

"Nothin'."

"You are thinking. I know you well enough to know that when you're quiet like this you're thinking."

He shifted away from her and leaned toward the arm of the couch away from her. She found herself eyeing the line of his naked side. She leaned over hefting her belly onto his hip and kissing his ribs.

Riddick stretched his arms over his head and Rakka slid a hand up his back and her lips traveled up and around his ribs to his nipple. Her tongue traced a trail along his skin and she felt high on the warmth, taste, and feel of his nipple. Riddick slid an arm around her and pushed himself upward. His other arms slid around her, his hand stopping to palm her round belly.

"Sure you can't have sex?" He whispered.

"I can't." Rakka moaned. "I want to, Riddick, I really, really want to…."

She put her hands on his and shifted away. Riddick withdrew his arms from her and sat stiffly to himself.

"We could….."

"I can't even orgasm." She said. "Dr. Turner said that I could start contractions and hurt my cervix. Or worse, start labor." She hugged herself and added, "It wouldn't be a good idea. Roland….if he found out….it just wouldn't end well."

"We'll make up for lost time afterwards." Riddick replied his hand leaving hers and lightly. . . lightly tracing the outline of her breasts through her shirt..

"Afterwards?" She said as she brushed his hand away. "You're going to stick around for the baby's birth?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"I like that." Rakka said. "I like the idea of you staying." She reached up and stroked the back of his head and slid it down his neck and over his shoulder….she was about to curve it around to his stomach….then she forced herself to stop and placed both hands firmly on her lap. Why tempt herself….she should get back to bed…..but first a cold bath….

A thought occurred to her. "Riddick, are you afraid that Roland will turn out like Jack…or Kyra?"

Riddick swallowed and rolled his head as if he was getting out kinks. Rakka studied him and said, "You've always wondered how Jack would have turned out if you had stayed with her."

"Hell, I would have been picked up by the fuckin' authorities or mercs, whoever the fuck got to me first if I stayed on New Mecca."

"You could have taken her with you?"

"Do you think I shoulda taken her with me?"

"No." Rakka said. "But you wondered how she would have turned out. Do you think…that she and I would have….gotten along if we met the same time I met you?"

Riddick looked at her. "The only way I would have been able to stop the two of from fighting would be to ghost you both."

"Why do you say that?"

"She…she wouldn't have liked the things we did….to each other…"

"The sex?"

"Yeah. She would have gotten jealous, been a little bitch about it."

"Did she….Riddick, did she have a crush on you?"

"I don't know. I've known her in only a space of time of a week and a half."

"And in that short amount of time she was willing to spend the rest of her life with you." Rakka said. "Children really take to you, you know that, Riddick."

"Hey, kids like to play with fire."

"Yes, I think they do too." Rakka said. "Are you still being hunted?"

"After I became Lord Marshall, and after I hired Adrian, I had him remove my bounty from the most wanted list. And sent out information that I'm dead."

"He can do that?"

"As of right now, the universe considers me dead."

"What about when you have to make a public announcement? To people not Necromongers?"

"I wear my visor. You saw it when I discovered that you were alive."

"Oh. Are there still….mercs that are hunting you?"  
"Yeah, I know there are some that are livin' the dream of catching Richard B. Riddick, the biggest bounty in the universe."

"Toombs?"

"I saw him, fuck, he was the one who caught me and put my ass in Crematoria."

"Did you kill him?"

"Left 'im on that planet locked in a dog cage."

Her eyes felt heavy and she knew she had to get to bed before she fell asleep on the couch next to him. "Riddick, I'm going to bed. It was….it was very nice talking to you. Help me stand."

Again, Riddick helped propel her to her feet with one arm. She waddled around the couch and stopped. She stepped behind Riddick and reached out and grasped his head with both hands and kissed the back of his stubbly head. "Good night, Riddick."

She waddled out of the apartment. Adrian's bedroom door opened a crack and a small voice whispered. "Is she gone?"

"Yeah, she's gone….."

Adrian walked out of the room and looked around as if Rakka was going to come swooping out of nowhere. "Hey man, pregnant ladies are scary. They can be as bitchy as they want, and you can't do anything to them or else you're considered an asshole."

Adrian headed to the kitchen and opened the fridge. He took out a tub of butter and opened it. Inside was creamy chocolate ice cream. Riddick turned in his seat and stared.

"Hey, it ain't the first time she came in here and stole our ice cream!" Adrian opened the drawer and grabbed a spoon. "No offense, but your girlfriend is a thief!"

* * *

The next morning, Rakka was preparing herself a small breakfast of cereal when Roland stepped in. 

"Hey, Mom, I'm not hungry, so I'll just pack a quick lunch and go."

"Roland, wait."

"Huh?"

Rakka set the cereal box aside and said, "I…I just want to talk with you."

"Mom, I gotta go!"  
"School doesn't start until 7:45. It's 7:00 now. Would it hurt you to spend ten minutes talking with your mother?"

"Allllriiiiight…" Roland muttered as he slung himself a chair and slouched forward.

"So how are you doing in school?" Rakka started.

"Fine." Roland said going into his one syllable response to questions.

"How are your friends?"

"Okay." Roland responded.

Rakka licked her lips and said, "Roland, how are you doing?"

"Fine."

"Roland….baby, I….I can't help, but feel that there's something wrong. I….know that your father dying was hard. It was hard on me." Roland didn't reply. He was studying his fidgeting hands. Rakka reached across the table and grasped his hand. "Roland, listen to me. Your father dying hurt you; it hurt me and everyone else. But we can't concentrate on the bad for too long, because we loose focus on the good things. This baby is going to need a strong big brother. Your father was excited about this baby, remember."

Roland perked up a little, just a little. "Alright, Mom, but…I miss Dad."

"I miss your father too, I miss him every day." Rakka smiled and said, "Want to know what the baby's name is going to be?"

"What?"

"Jack."

"Why Jack?"

"Why not Jack?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know!"

"I think Vin would be a better name."

"Well, it's not up to you, it's up to the parents, now get out of here and go to school!" She reared her hand back mockingly of a backhand swing.

Roland cringed away in mock fright and stood. "Did Dad pick that name?"

Rakka paused for three seconds. "Yes….yes, he did."

"Then I like it." Roland left for school and Rakka felt guilt assault her mind.

She couldn't believe that she had lied to her son. Technically, she didn't really lie. Riddick really was his Dad. Who was she kidding? She knew that Roland was talking about Terry.

* * *

The sexual tension between Riddick and Rakka didn't relent, in fact, it increased. She couldn't be in the same room with him without smelling his musky scent. Damn, her enhanced smelling due to her pregnancy. Anytime he was within reach, she touched him. Her hands would trail down his arm or she would purposely brush against him in public and blame her hefty figure for her clumsiness. 

"Rakka…"

"Yes?" She looked up at Alia who had came over for a visit. "Is something wrong?"

Alia studied her cup of tea and said, "I…I know that you are…attracted to Johns."

Rakka nearly dropped her cup of milk. "Alia, why do you…?"

"I know and Houston knows too. It may fly over Carol's and Roland's heads, but we know. I…I know that being pregnant your hormones are out of sync and you get aroused more easily in some cases."

"Some cases?"

"For me, when I was pregnant with each of my kids, poor Houston couldn't even get around me. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with sex. But my friend, back on my home planet, when she was pregnant, it was all her husband could do to keep her off him."

"Oh, well, yes…I have been more easily aroused…."

"I can understand how it was must have very hard since Terry died."

Truth was that she wasn't aroused when Terry was around when he was alive. It was when Riddick around when she felt hot and erotic images popped into her head. She could even gratify herself for fear of having an orgasm and go into early labor. It must be hard for Riddick….wait….Riddick could easily go to a bar in the town and pick up a girl who would be more than happy to satisfy his cravings.

Bastard.

"I can understand being aroused around Johns, he is….a very attractive man, but I….I have to say…I don't think he has a very nice background."

Rakka fought to keep herself from laughing. "What makes you say that?"

"It…I can't put my finger on it, but he makes me feel at ill at ease around him. He's so big and that voice…scares me. And his shaved head….yeek."

Rakka regarded Alia over her cup as she sipped her milk. Alia wouldn't recognize that she was attracted to Riddick also. Sometimes Alia knew a lot, but there were times when Rakka felt that she knew nothing at all.

"I trust him." Rakka said.

"You've really changed since we met you." Alia said with a small grin. "I remember you were this poor pregnant girl that jumped at the slightest shadow. You kept Terry a mile away from you as I recall."

Rakka had to agree to that. She had been afraid of everyone. She had been mistrustful of Terry, finding his advances unwanted and a part of it was…..loyalty to Riddick. She didn't realize that till now, after Riddick came back into her life.

It was amazing at how different Terry and Riddick were. Riddick was large and thick with bronzed caramel skin, shaved head, and silvery eyes. Terry was small and was in good shape, but not as built as Riddick. He had a pale complexion with blue eyes and blonde hair. Riddick's voice was rough where Terry's was smooth. Riddick's demeanor was rude, harsh, and blunt where Terry was polite and gentle. They were two sides of a coin.

Rakka licked her milk mustache away and thought, _"If only they could meld into one man. With Riddick's body and Terry's…"_

No, she didn't want Riddick to change. She wanted him as he was with nothing of Terry in him. Terry was loving and sweet, but it was Riddick that held her passion.

"Rakka?"  
Rakka looked up startled. "Sorry?"

"Your eyes had a glazed look as if you…..were fantasizing?"

"Oh, it's…"

"You were thinking about Johns."

"Yes…No! Not in that way!" Rakka said shaking her head. "Look, I have a 14 year old son who's living in the next apartment, do you think I would do something as stupid as go after another man so soon after his father's death?"

"No, I don't think you would…" Alia said, but Rakka could see the doubt in her eyes.

"Alia, you know that I would rather walk through fire than do anything that would hurt Roland more than he already is."

"I'll feel better after you have the baby. Then you'll have so much on your hands, you'll be too busy to think about Johns."

Rakka's thoughts turned to whether or not Riddick would continue to stay after the baby was born. She couldn't imagine him changing diapers, preparing a bottle, or dealing with a crying baby in the middle of the night.

What exactly are Riddick's plans? Have sex with her after the baby was born and leave? Sex?

Rakka was very much surprised that she planned on having sex with Riddick when she recovered after giving birth. Sex between them wasn't planned, at least not for her. She was sure that Riddick had planned ways of getting into her pants each time they had a liaison.

What surprised her more was that she wasn't bothered that she planned on having sex with Riddick after delivery. It just seemed natural to her now. God, she really must have changed from 14 years ago.

The first several times had been thrilling, and little scary. She was allowing a sociopath convict touch and penetrated her body. There had been that scary possibility that could become violent and hurt her badly. Sure, he had been rough a few times and she had been bruised and sore. Those dark nights in the Slam, after she killed Buzz Saw, he did whatever he wanted and however he wanted with her and she loved it.

The dark, she had never really liked being in the dark, but in that cell where she could touch her eyeball and not see her finger at all. She never knew exactly what he was going to do. His hands removing her clothes, not knowing where he was going to touch her and how, the sudden quick caress of a warm wet tongue, the tweaking pain of teeth nipping her skin, and the welcoming pressure of his full lips on her flesh. She enjoyed seeking him out, her hands reaching out into that dark void and touching muscle, arms, chest, stomach, and his head, whatever she could get her hands on. She enjoyed find his face and touching the rough scrub his bald head. She could control some of the situation by knowing where he was and possibly what he intended to do. Finally, he would penetrate her, that sweet, hot, firm, almost painful……

"RAKKA!" Fingers snapped inches from her nose and she blinked and looked at a concerned Alia leaning over the table.

"Wha…what?"

"You were in a dazed!" Alia said sitting back in her chair. "My God, Rakka, you had that glazed look in your eyes again!"

Rakka shifted uncomfortably. She needed to go clean herself up. What she really wanted to do was get to Riddick and jump his bones, but she knew better. Placenta Previa was a bitch.

* * *

The next week, Rakka was getting ready for her schedule doctor's appointment inside her bedroom. Roland was inside her kitchen preparing dinner. He ate often in their apartment when Terry was alive, but now he gathered what he wanted to eat and took it into his apartment. Rakka would have to content herself with eating by herself or with anyone that came to visit her. 

Sometimes Riddick came and would have a quiet, wordless meal with her. It would be intense and neither of their minds would be on the food at all. His visits started to become fewer and fewer now. He must have thought that it would be easier if he wasn't around her.

She stepped into her bathroom to fix her hair, then she remembered her shoes. "Roland!"

"Yeah, mom?" He called from the kitchen.

"Could you help me wit my shoes?" She called picking up a favored brush.

"Alright." He responded and he could be heard approaching her bedroom.

Roland stepped into the bedroom and said, "Which shoes, mom?"

"In the closet."

Roland walked to the closet door and opened it. He knelt among the many pairs of shoes. He sadden as he recognized several pairs that belong to his father. He took notice of a shoebox and opened it. Inside were a pair of women's shoes which looked old and worn. He stared at them a moment and wondered why his mother would bother to keep a pair of old shoes inside a shoebox while all her other pairs weren't kept in any boxes.

He lifted them out and asked, "What pair do you want?"

"Hmmm. . .sandals. Nothing fits anymore." Rakka replied from the bathroom.

Before Roland could put the shoes back into the box and grab a pair of wooden sandals, something caught his eyes within box. At the edge of the white tissue paper, at the corner of the box was something dark and square shape. He scratched at it with his nails until it would willingly come up into his fingers.

It was a mugshot photo of Johns. He stared at it in disbelief. It looked very old and worn. It was bended and crinkled in several places. This couldn't be a mugshot, not of Johns. Yet, Johns' face were there as plain as day.

He flipped over the photo and looked to see if there was a date. There was a small printed at the very edge of the photo, but that was not what held his attention. Right beside the date, printed was a name: Tangerier Prison/Slam Facility.

Tangerier, that's a planet prison, a slam. He knew the name because one day, just for fun, he and some of his friends got together at the school library computer and looked up Slams on the Network. They had read up on Crematoria, Butcher's Bay, and others. But Roland knew for sure that Tangerier was one of them.

Questions and possible answers buzzed inside his head. Was Johns an ex-convict? Did his mother know about this photo? Of course, she did, she had it inside her shoebox. But why would she have it hidden inside a shoebox? The photo looked very old, exactly how long has his mother had this? And why would she have it? Why have a photo of Johns at all? How long had she had this photo?

Roland couldn't understand anything about this. Did his mother know Johns long before that time when the Necromongers came? Or did she get this after he dropped her off?

"Roland? Are you having trouble finding my sandals?" His mother interrupted his torrent of thoughts.

He quickly dropped the photo in the box, covered it with tissue, and set the shoes inside it. "Yeah, a little." He lied as he placed the lid on the box. He put it back inside the closet where he found it and stood with the wooden sandals, which had been in plain sight the whole time, in hand.

"I got 'em." He said as he approached the bathroom.

Rakka had finished styling her hair and turned to smile at him brightly as if she wasn't hiding a photo of a man who wasn't her husband. A man whom she SHOULD have only known for less than months and a man who may have been in a Slam.

"Just set them on the floor and I'll get into them myself." Rakka said as she put away her brush and hair spray.

Roland did so and said, "Mom, who's driving you to the doctor?"

"Oh, Houston is."

"Doesn't. . . Johns ever drive you?" Roland asked softly.

"Oh, no. He's not very familiar with the city yet." Rakka said blindly sliding her feet into the sandals. "And he hasn't offered."

Roland stared at the huge bulged of his mother's belly and a chilling thought occurred to him. "How far along are you?"

"Hmmmm. . .eight months." Rakka replied after a little thought. If Rakka hadn't been struggling with her sandals, she would have seen Roland's face go white.

"I gotta go, Mom. I got homework." Roland said quickly as he fled from the bathroom.

Rakka stared at the bathroom door where Roland had stood. She couldn't help, but feel that something had happened, but she didn't know what.

* * *

"How long before you pop?" 

Rakka looked up startled from her novel. It was a week after her appointment and she was reclined on her bed and Riddick was leaning into the room looking at her with goggles eyes. "What?"

"How long till you pop the kid?"

"Uhh….next month…actually in a few weeks."

"It says in your records that depending on your appointment tomorrow it could be Friday."

Rakka swallowed and shifted her legs. "That's possible. I could have a c-section done, but that's up to Dr. Turner tomorrow." She stared at Riddick and said, "How did you know that? That's strictly between me and Dr. Turner."

"Adrian."

"That little bastard." Rakka muttered.

"So why the hell did I have to find out through him and not from you?"

"I was going to tell you after my appointment. I may give birth normally in a few weeks or we'll get the baby earlier."

"You mean they'll gut you."

"Thank you, Riddick!" Rakka tossed her book aside on the bed and crossed her arms. "I really wanted to be reminded that I may have to get a hole cut into my stomach!"

"You should have told me."

"What? You care?"

"It's MY kid."

Rakka's eyebrows arched. "You care. You actually care….what do you mean YOUR kid. I'm carrying him! He's growing inside of ME? He's going to come out of ME! I may have to: A. go through hours of intense pain for delivery or B. get my stomach cut open! Just because you donate a microscopic bit of your cum into making him doesn't make him any more yours than mine! You may have planted the seed, but I did the gardening, dammit!"

Riddick was at the side of the bed and was leaning over her. She was pinioned between his thick arms as his clench fists sunk into the mattress. His face was inches from her and he said, "Don't tell me that you didn't enjoy my 'donation'."

She leaned forward and kissed his lips. "If you care about what happens to me, then say you care."

Riddick jerked up and spun around. Rakka stared at him for two seconds and then looked past Riddick. Roland was leaning in the doorway staring at them.

"Roland…."

He disappeared from the door and could be heard running out of the apartment. Rakka stared at Riddick with wide eye. "He saw…he saw didn't he?"

"Fuck." Riddick hissed.

"Help me stand." Rakka tugged on Riddick's arm and struggled to swing her legs over the edge.

"Might need to leave him…."

"No, help me to stand." Rakka managed to get her legs on the floor and pulled on Riddick's arm to stand. She waddled out of her bedroom and out of her apartment. Riddick followed her as she went into Roland's apartment.

His bedroom door was shut and she knocked on it. "Roland! It's Mom, open the door!"

"Go away! Go make out with Johns!" Roland yelled back through the door.

"Roland, listen to me, we have to talk! There's…..something we should have told you."  
"What? That he's the baby's father because of a DONATION! I say his picture in your shoebox, Mom!"

Rakka felt her blood chill. "Roland, baby, listen to me. We have to talk about this!"

"About what? You lied! You said that Johns is an old friend! He's just your old boyfriend!"

"Yes, he is an old friend….he's been an old friend for…..14 years….before I was pregnant with you…."

There was silence for the space of three minutes before Roland opened the door and stared at Rakka. "Mom…..wha….I…."

Rakka touched his shoulder and said, "Honey, we need to talk."

* * *

"He's my DAD!" Roland pointed at Riddick who was sitting at the far end of the kitchen table. 

"Yes, he is. I met him months before I met Terry." Rakka swallowed and said, "And also, I was pregnant with you, before I met Terry.

Roland looked at his hands on the table and Rakka reached out to touch his shoulder, but he shrugged away from her. "He can't be my dad! He can't!"

"He is. Roland, I know without a doubt that Riddick is your father."

"Riddick? I thought his name is Johns!"

"His real name is Riddick."

"SO YOU WERE HAVING AN AFFAIR ON DAD!" Roland yelled. "You made him change his name to hide him from Dad!"

"No, no, Terry knew who he was. I told him about Riddick and that he's your true father. And Terry knew you were Riddick's son before I married him."

"What about the baby….?"

Rakka swallowed. This was going to be hard to explain, but it was something they would have to plough through the best they could. "Remember when the Necromongers came and I was missing for two days. Riddick was…there…with the Necromongers"

Roland moaned and stared at Rakka like he didn't recognize her. "You cheated on Dad. You were cheating on Dad while he was looking for you, thinking you were missing. You were really…with HIM!" Roland pointed an accusing finger at Riddick.

"Roland, I know that there is NOTHING I can say to excuse what I did and I am NOT asking you to forgive and forget, but you have to understand that I didn't want…."

"BUT YOU DID WANT! YOU HAD FUCKING SEX WITH HIM!"

"Hey! Don't use that language with me!" Rakka snapped. "I know you are angry with me and I understand that, but don't use that language!"

"Where has he been the last 14 years of my life? Why didn't you and him get married or somethin'?"

"We didn't love each other." Rakka said.

"But you loved him enough to have sex with him AGAIN and get pregnant AGAIN! You were suppose to love Dad!"

Before Rakka could speak, Riddick spoke up. "There's a big difference between love and lust."

Roland swallowed and said, "You guys were together because you….liked each others bodies…."

"I'm afraid so, Roland." Rakka said. "I loved Terry. I DID. I loved him. But, with Riddick….I'm a weak woman when it comes to Riddick, Roland. I'm weak for the flesh. I know it sounds corny and you deserve a better explanation than that. What we did was selfish and we ended up hurting me, you, Terry, and Riddick."

Riddick made a scoff in his throat as if he hadn't been hurt at all by the whole affair.

"I…where did you meet?"

Okay, now this was a tense. How to explain to Roland about their assorted pasts? "Roland, we met on my home planet, Haven. It's in the Green System, I told you about it, remember."

"But you didn't tell me about him." Roland pointed at Riddick.

"I…I know I didn't tell you about him." Rakka said.

"Why did you break you up?"

Riddick made another sound in his throat and Rakka stared at him. Was he going to help her to explain their past relationship to Roland? It seemed like he saw fit to let her do all the talking. "It…wasn't possible for us to be together."

"Because of me? Because you were pregnant with me?"

"Partly." Rakka said. "Another is that we weren't compatible."

"But you think you're compatible now! You were KISSING him!"

"Yes, I know. I…..I still care about him, Roland….I know it's not fair to you and to Riddick. But I want you to know, that I never meant to hurt you or anybody. Terry knew that the baby wasn't his. I didn't lie to him about anything."

"Dad died knowing…."

"Yes, I told him as soon as I realized I was pregnant and he wanted me to have it and he wanted to help me raise the baby."

"That's why Dad wanted to see him before he…."

"Yes. We meant to tell you, baby, we did. But we didn't know when the right time would be. You were still hurting from loosing Dad and I was pregnant….We didn't mean for you to see us doing…that."

Roland licked his lips and said, "Are you going to marry him?"

"No, we're not getting married."

"Are you….going to be seeing each other…?"

Rakka looked up at Riddick and Riddick was staring back at her.

"Yes, we'll be seeing each other."


	43. Jack

"Roland, how do you feel?" Rakka asked.

They had sat at the kitchen table in silence, allowing the 14 year old to absorb the revelations of his background and his parents.

"I don't know. I don't…feel anything…" Roland replied. "Mad, hurt, and afraid….."

"I understand, it's a lot to take in." Rakka said softly. "Roland, nothing has changed…."

"Yes, it has!" Roland snapped.

"No, no it hasn't. I'm still here, I'm still having a baby…"

"What about him?" Roland jerked a thumb at Riddick. "Is he going to move in and expect me to call him Dad? I won't do it!"

"No! We're not expecting that of you! Riddick's going to stay in his apartment with Adrian until he leaves…"

"He's going to leave us again!" Roland said. He turned to Riddick and said, "What? You don't want us or somethin'?"

Riddick leaned forward and said, "Kid, just a second ago, YOU didn't want me."

"Roland, that is something Riddick and I will talk about." Rakka said. "There may be some changes and we WILL include you in any decisions that need to be made, but there are some things that need to be discussed just between Riddick and me."

"You want me to leave so you can talk or make out?" Roland glared at Riddick.

Rakka gave Roland a look so searing that he looked away "Do you want to leave?"

"Yes."

"Alright, go ahead. If you want to talk some more than…."

"I don't think I'll want to…" Roland pushed himself from his chair and left the kitchen.

Rakka listened to him leave the apartment and rubbed her face. "Dammit."

Riddick didn't reply or say anything. She looked up at him and said, "Well, aren't you going to say anything?"

"What do ya want me to say?" Riddick asked looking at her.

"How long can you stay?" Rakka asked.

"Why the fuck do you keep asking me that?"

"I just want to know!" Rakka said. "I want to be prepared and know when you'll have to leave. I don't want to wake up one morning and you'er gone without warning!"

"So, you want me around?"

Rakka wanted to scream, but she inhaled hard enough that air hissed through her teeth. "I want you to stay, Riddick. I….You are the father my children and…Roland is hurting right now, but he'll need you. This baby will need you."

There was a knock at the door. The apartment door opened a crack and Adrian stuck his head inside. "Riddick, we…got some messages. Important messages."

Riddick pushed himself from the table and walked around it. Rakka reached out and grabbed his arm. "Riddick, we HAVE GOT to talk about what we're going to do about us and the kids…"

"We will, later." He tugged his arm from her grasp. "I'm comin' with you tomorrow."

"Alright." Rakka said giving up. She wobbled to her feet and said, "I'm going to bed. Wake me up in the morning for the appointment. 10:30."

Riddick watched her go into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. He turned to Adrian. "What?"

"Two things actually." Adrian said.

"Let's go to back your lab." Riddick said.

Adrian led the way back to his room turned into a computer lab. Riddick shut and locked the door behind him. Adrian turned to Riddick and said, "The Council ain't happy with you."

"Fuck 'em." Riddick snapped.

"Riddick, they say they want your ass back in the Basilica ASA-fuckin'-P." Adrian said.

"I'm the goddamn Lord Marshal, they'll fuckin' do what I want. They don't like it, I'll quit."

"You know you can't do that, they won't let you do that." Adrian said. "They are very strict about that 'you keep what you kill rule' thing. You're the Lord Marshall until you get offed or you die of old age….but people ain't patient."

"I'll go back when I fuckin' feel like goin' back."

"Look, I understand cuz of the kids and all….but…"

"What was the other thing?" Riddick inserted.

"Oh, yeah, there's this Tirana chick who's a reporter. She recognizes you as the most wanted man in the universe."

"Bitch thinkin' about writin' an article?"

"So far, she hasn't been able to prove anything. She's trying to back up her information with facts, but I've deleted anything she may have had on you and Rakka and even blocked some of her resources. But there is one thing though…."

"What?"

"Before I got here and I started messin' with her info, she sent out some e-mails to some Hitomian communities about Rakka. She got a few replies about Rakka being welcomed to their communities or praises or some holy shit like that. But there was one certain email that caught both my attention and Tirana's."

Adrian stepped to his Database and typed some keys bringing up email log. He highlighted one and pointed at it. "It came with no traceable address. I've been trying to trace it, but whoever sent it was a professional and did not want to be found."

"What did they want?"

"They wanted a photo of Rakka. They requested an old picture, where Rakka was very young. A childhood picture if possible. Tirana sent the youngest pic she could get. Here it is." Adrian pressed a key and an image of Rakka holding a toddler Roland on her lap pointing and encouraging him to smile at the camera. "She sent the photo to an address that is no longer there, but never got a reply."

"Can you trace it?"

"I can, but it'll take a while. I mean, this email was sent through several tricky channels. It'll take a while to figure the channels and decode it and shit."

"Do it. Tell me if you find anything." Riddick paused for a second and said, "I want that Tirana bitch screwed over bad. I want it where she's too busy trying to keep her life together, she doesn't have time to stick her nose where it doesn't belong. We got enough shit to deal with, without this bitch tryin' to throw shit at a fan."

"Sure, man. So far I've been keeping her away from you, but now I can really have some fun with her."

* * *

"What the fuck?" Tirana stared at her comp screen in horror. All her resources, her information, all her tidbits on any possible stories were gone from her computer. All her hard founded addresses, phone numbers, and records of meetings. Even audio recordings were gone. Her whole career work was gone.

"Oh, god, oh god, oh god, no no no…."

* * *

Rakka dressed warmly for the trip to the hospital. It was mid winter, though it didn't snow in their part of Yari, it was still cold enough to warrant a thick coat. Riddick went with a denim jacket over a white shirt, jeans, and work boots.

"Roland wasn't here when I woke up?" Rakka said.

"School." Riddick replied helping her into the hover.

"I wanted to talk with him before we left…"

Riddick shut the door and walked around the hover and got into the driver's side. "He didn't want to talk."

Riddick turned on the hover and eased it out of the garage. It trailed down the drive while he drove and Rakka sat in silence.

"Riddick."

"Yeah?"

"Give me your hand."

"Why?"

"Just give it to me." She held out a hand.

Riddick flung his hand into hers. She took it and placed it on the curve of her ball of a belly. His face flinched in surprised as he felt a quick kick through her flesh.

"That's Jack saying hello." Rakka said. She took her hand off his, but his remained on her stomach feeling his second son move within her. "Riddick, I'm sorry that you missed Roland's birth and that you missed feeling him kick and….all the good things Terry was there for, but you weren't…..I'm sorry."

"'s nothin'." He replied.

"No, it's not alright…"

"What? You wishin' I was around then?"

"Yes, yes I do."

"You know it wasn't possible then." Riddick replied.

"I know. I had no choice except to leave you." Rakka said. "If….I wanted to stay with you. I wanted to be with you."

"In the Slam?"

"It got better after I cut off Buzz Saw's head…"

Riddick turned onto the highway, but she could feel him staring hard at her. "Rakka, you were willing to stay with me in that Slam if you weren't pregnant?"

"Yes…."

"Then you haven't been there long enough." Riddick replied.

"Maybe I haven't." Rakka admitted.

"No, you haven't."

Riddick moved his hand away from her belly and steered with both hands. Rakka stared out the window and said, "I'm….a little scared…..about getting a c-section."

"You'll be alright."

"But they're cutting a hole in my stomach."

"No worse than that cannibal bitch stabbing you."

"I almost died from that."

"You didn't."

"But that's not the point."

"Beats the alternative."

"You'll stay with me if I need to get a c-section, right?"

"Why?"

"You know why!" She snapped.

"You already saw a c-section!"

"If you are talking about Reki, then I am more freaked out about this than before." Rakka hugged herself and said, "What is it? You don't want to be there with me?"

"I'll be there." Riddick said.

"Thank you." Rakka leaned against the door. She bit her bottom lip and said, "You know, that….after I give birth or have the c-section….it's going to be six weeks before we can…."

"Fuck!"

"Hey, there are other things we can do. You had the easy end of it. You could go into the bathroom with a magazine and lotion and gratify yourself. I can't even….gratify myself because I can't have an orgasm without worrying about putting myself in labor!"

"Gratify. I never heard masturbation called that!" Riddick laughed.

"It's not funny! I've been miserable!" Rakka snapped.

They finally pulled into the hospital parking lot. Riddick helped Rakka out of the hover and into the lobby. She dropped herself into a chair near the box office and Riddick stretched himself into the seat beside her.

People looked over their magazines at them. A pretty pregnant woman with blue-violet eyes who is well known in the community sitting beside a dangerous looking drifter wearing ominous goggles that so happened to arrive in town at the same time that said woman's husband died. Rakka had the feeling that she was going to be a topic of conversation over dinner tonight.

"Rakka Laotaner."

Riddick got to his feet and tugged Rakka to her feet. They followed a nurse to an examining room. Rakka was helped onto the exam table and the nurse said that it would be a few minutes before Dr. Turner would see them. Rakka tapped her fingers on her round belly and Riddick reclined back in a chair on the side of the room.

"Riddick?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you….uncomfortable being in here?"

"No."

"Just asking." Rakka replied.

The door opened and Dr. Turner walked smiling inside bearing a datapad. "Hello, how are you feeling, Rakka?"

"Fine." Rakka replied. "I am a little nervous of possibly having a c-section."

"There's nothing to worry about. It's perfectly common practice and in this day and age every mother and child are fine after a c-section." Dr. Turner pulled up a stool and prepped the scanning machine. "Wouldn't you rather have your baby tonight instead of waiting more weeks?"

Riddick sat up and Rakka's eyes widen. "Tonight? You said that if I needed a c-section then it would be on Friday!"

"Oh…well….I have time tonight, so why not get it over with, right?"

"Well….let's see what the tests say…." Rakka said nervously.

Dr. Turner went through the preparations, smearing the goo on Rakka's stomach and ran the probe over her skin. "Yep, you might as well plan on spending the night."

"But it's so sudden." Rakka said. "I…haven't gotten anything together. I was hoping to deliver in two or three weeks."

"Just think of it this way." Dr. Turner said as she compiled her information into the datapad. "You'll be able to hold your baby sooner."

"I…couldn't it wait?" Rakka asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. Your condition is worsening, slowly, but could become fatal if we don't do something."

"What about a second opinion?" Riddick spoke up.

"I'm sorry?" Dr. Turner turned on her stool to face Riddick.

"Second opinion. Get another doctor in here and let 'em take a look." He edged forward in his seat and leaned forward. "They say she gotta get cut open, we do it, they say she can wait, we wait."

"I'm afraid that there isn't another doctor available at this hospital with prenatal expertise." Dr. Turner said in an annoyed hard voice.

"Then we go to another hospital."

"Riddick, this is a colony." Rakka explained. "It means that this hospital is the only one available on this planet. There won't be another one for another six years when they start a second colony."

"Fuck, I got a heap. We'll go to another planet."

"No, Riddick. I am not in the mood to pack my things, leave my home for a week to get to the closest planet, and then have the doctor there tell me the same thing. Then we'll have to spend another week flying back here and by that time I'll probably go into labor!" Rakka said. "I trust Dr. Turner. If she says that I need a c-section tonight, then I'll have one tonight."

Riddick leaned back into his chair and held his hands up. "Whatever you want."

Dr. Turner turned off her datapad and said, "I'll have you assigned to a room and I'll prep the operating room for you tonight."

"Thank you." Rakka said.

"I'll send a nurse to take you to your room. You may want to call someone to bring you some changes of clothes."

"I will." Rakka assured her.

"I'll also send word by nurse of what time the procedure will begin." Dr. Turner said as she stood from the stool. "I'll see you later. If you have any questions, be sure to notify me."

She left the room and Rakka took a wipe from a tube located near the bed and began wiping the goo from her belly. "Riddick, you really embarrassed Dr. Turner."

"You don't want a c-section." Riddick replied.

"I know, I know. But Dr. Turner has taken really good care of me and I trust her judgment."

"I remember a few times when you trusted people and it burned your ass."

"This is different." Rakka pulled her shirt in place. "She's a doctor; it is her JOB to take care of the baby and me."

* * *

"Yeah, tonight you can do the pick up. Sure, no problem. I can't promise you an exact time. Moms always want to spend the first few hours of baby's life with baby. You can send someone to do the pickup before morning, I promise you that. Just be sure my money is wired to my account after you get the delivery. Thanks, bye."

Dr. Turner clicked off the signal and went about preparing for Rakka's c-section.

* * *

"Hey, Mom."

"Hey, Roland." Rakka smiled from her hospital bed.

Roland walked in and licked his upper lip. "So, I'm gonna meet my baby brother tonight?"

"Looks like it." Rakka said.

"Is HE going to be there?"

"Yes, HE is." Rakka said. "Son, his name is Riddick….actually his full name is Richard B. Riddick, but he's just called Riddick."

Roland sat on the edge of her bed and said, "So why didn't you name me Richard Jr?"

"I would have more likely called you Riddick Jr. I forget that he has a full name and that Riddick is just his surname."

"Why didn't you call him Richard then?"

"I…don't know. He introduced himself to me as Johns. Then I found out his real name…..Riddick just stuck. It just seems to fit him better, you know."

"So….do I have any….relatives on his side…..?" Roland said looking at her. "Like long lost aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents?"

"No, he's…." Rakka felt that Riddick should be telling Roland about himself, but it was so hard to get him to open up as it is. "He was….an orphan, Roland. He…we're his only family."

"Family….?" Roland's brow furrowed above his goggles. "He's not family."

"Roland…."

"No, Mom! He can't come and go as he likes! He leaves you when you were pregnant with me, comes back, gets you pregnant, and then leaves again to come back now! When is he going to leave again?"

"Son, there is a HUGE story behind what happened when we met and HE didn't leave ME, I left HIM…"

"Really?" Roland said. "Why? Did he….do things….?"

"No, he wasn't abusive to me at all…." Rakka crossed her fingers under the sheet. "He didn't hit me, it…we argued all the time. We were physically attractive to each other, but not emotionally. He cheated on me a few times and….I suppose I cheated on him by kissing two other men."

"Whoa!" Roland said shocked. "Mom, I didn't know you were such a femme fatale!"

"Get out of here!" Rakka made as if to smack him.

Roland mockingly curled his arms over his head as if warding off a blow. He soberly put his hands down and said, "What….what is he going to do now?"

"I think he's going to stay for a while. Help out with the baby…"

"Be with you."

Rakka swallowed and said, "Yes, be with me and with you."

"No, he…if he knew I was his kid then why didn't he….talk to me and stuff…."

"Roland, listen to me. Riddick….he's very complicated to describe, but….I have the feeling that he's….a very private man. He's so use to being alone and keeping to himself that….he has a hard time opening up, forming a bond with anyone…..and I don't think he knows how to be a father and….he's very uncomfortable with that." Roland looked down at his shoes and Rakka reached out for his hand. He took hers and she continued, "Roland, Riddick didn't even know about you the last 14 years. He…he thought I was dead."

Roland snapped his head up and stared at her. "Mom, why would he think you were dead?"

"That's part of the huge story about how he and I met." Rakka shifted uncomfortably. "Roland, one day very soon, you, Riddick, and I are going to sit down and have a very long talk and we'll tell you the whole story behind how we met and how we separated. Right now I just want to concentrate on having this baby."

"Alright Mom, Aunt Alia is bringing you your things from the House."

"Who drove you?" Rakka asked.

"Adrian."

Rakka groaned and rolled her head against the pillow. "Please tell me that he wasn't drinking…."

"He wasn't Mom, he's a cool guy. You're just mad at him because you found out that he's been hiding chocolate ice cream in a butter tub."

Rakka glared at Roland and looked up as Riddick entered the room bearing a cup of coffee in a styrofoam cup. Roland instantly jump to his feet. "Uh….hi?"

Riddick didn't return the greeting; he took a seat against the wall and nodded at him. Roland glanced at Rakka and shuffled toward the door. "Mom, I'm gonna go get something to eat, okay?"

"Sure, go ahead." Rakka replied. "Make sure that Adrian stays out of trouble."

"Yeah, sure." Roland disappeared through door way and shut the door behind him.

Rakka inclined her head toward Riddick and said, "I think….Roland might be alright about 'us'."

"Us?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" Rakka shifted to sit up. "Riddick, we got to figure out what is going to happen after I have this baby."

"You take the kid home, wait six weeks, fuck each other's brains out…."

"Dammit, Riddick!" Rakka glared at him. "I am being serious! What are you going to do? Are you going to leave or stay? Are you moving in with us or live separately away from us? Are you going to help me raise Roland and Jack? Or are you just going to give child support or some shit like that? Those are things I would like to know!"

"What if I don't know myself?" Riddick returned.

Rakka leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "What do you want to do, Riddick? What is it you want and then we can go from there?"

"What do you want?" Riddick asked.

"Don't turn it back on me!" Rakka snapped. "Don't you dare turned this around on me! I want YOUR answer first and I'll answer YOUR question after I get MINE!"

Riddick leaned against the back of his chair and stretched his legs out and crossed his ankles. He laced his hands behind his head and rested backward. With his goggles on, she couldn't tell whether he had closed his eyes or not. Rakka stared at him for a full solid three minutes before caving in.

"Bastard!" She hissed. "Alright. I want what's best for the kids. For Roland, this baby, and…."

Riddick eyebrows snapped up. "And…..? You got another goddamn kid stashed somewhere or are you talking about popping a third kid?"

Rakka swallowed a lump in her throat and said, "It was a slip of the tongue, Riddick."

"No, you're already about to pop and you are fuckin' plannin' on another kid!" Riddick leaned forward.

"Alright, maybe I want a third kid! Is that so bad? I mean I bet there are thousands, no millions of families with three kids!"

"You are fucked up! You know that?" Riddick snapped.

"Why are you so mad? It's MY decision!" Rakka snapped back.

"Who's going to knock you up third time around?"

"Riddick! Let's just stop." Rakka held up a hand. "What I meant to say was I want what's best for Roland, Jack, and any other kid I MAY possibly have. Alright, you blew it out of proportion."

"You're talking as if I'm going to be around."

"So you're planning on leaving?"

"Quit puttin' words in my mouth."

"Stop leading me on then! You keep me guessing! You've been like this since the first night we met! Always not telling me what you're planning! Jeez, I think you play it by ear!"

"Sometimes." Riddick replied.

"Obviously you are not going to make anything easy, so let me talk and you listen and then after I have this kid, you can tell me what you are going to do. Sounds fair?"

"Whatever…" Riddick replied.

Rakka ignored his attitude and continued, "As I said, I want what's best for Roland and Jack. And Riddick, your role in their lives is very, very important. I would like Jack to have a father and I'm sure that Roland still needs guidance. But I do NOT want is for them to have their hearts broken. I don't want them to get their hopes up on you and you leave and let them down. So soon, I need to know and we need to make a decision soon. If you stay, then I want you to stay and be their father, but if you leave, then I want you to stay away; don't offer them something they won't or can't have or you won't give them."

"You givin' me an ultimatum with MY kids?" Riddick growled.

"They are MY kids too, Riddick. I know I love them and I will go anything I can for them, but….I can't say the same for you." She couldn't tell whether he was looking hard at her or not, but she could feel his eyes burning into her. "I guess to be blunt is…are you in or out? I have to know for their sake, Riddick." Riddick licked his lips. Rakka looked at her folded hands on her belly and said, "I'm not asking for your answer now. I'll give you time to choose. After the baby is born and we're settled and I'm back on my feet, you can tell me what you want to do and we'll go from there."

"What do you want me to do?" Riddick asked.

Rakka continued to stare at her hands. "Whatever you believe is best for the kids. That's all I ask is that you do what you believe is best for the kids."

"What do you want me to do?" Riddick repeated.

"It doesn't matter what I want."

"What do you want me to do."

"Hey, Mrs. Laotaner, it's time." A nurse stepped into the room. Outside the room a gurney was guarded by a male nurse.

Rakka nodded and the gurney was wheeled into the room. She was very relieved that she was rescued. Both nurses lifted Rakka onto it and made sure she was comfortable and settled onto the gurney. Riddick stood and placed himself near the gurney. Rakka was wheeled down the hall and Riddick followed from behind.

The female nurse stopped and said, "Sir, I am afraid that you are going to need to wait in the lobby. A doctor will…."

"I'm the kid's father." Riddick said in a clipped tone.

"Huh? But….she's Terry's widow….."

"He's the baby's father." Rakka affirmed.

"Oh….." Another conversation about her tomorrow over breakfast. "Well, let me take you where you can be sterilized and get scrubs."

Rakka was taken in one direction and Riddick went the other. She was wheeled into a room with a bright overhead light. A few nurses were prepping tools and Dr. Turner was studying out her sonar images on pane of bright light. Rakka instantly felt intimidated.

"Hey, how do you feel?" Dr. Turner said sweetly.

"Nervous."

"You won't feel a thing." Dr. Turner assured her. "First were going to start giving you drugs to numb you from the ribs down to your feet. We'll insert a catheter and drain your bladder of urine and then we'll start the procedure. You won't feel any pain, but you will feel little pressure, but that's normal."

The door open and Riddick walked in. She knew it was him by his large frame and shaved head. He wore a white uniform of different design from the nurses' uniform, gloves, and a mask covering his mouth and nose. His head was thankfully left bare, why she was happy it was bare, she didn't know. He wore his goggles, but they shone as if they were sprayed with anti-septic. It was possibly the only way they would let him wear them inside the delivery room.

She held out a hand and Riddick took it, his large hand swallowing hers. "Can you take off your gloves?"

"He can, but he'll need to keep his hands away from our 'working area'." Dr. Turner grinned.

Riddick removed the gloves and Rakka could feel that he was happy to take them off. He wasn't much into gloves. Her hand wove into his and she pulled it down to her chest and held it there with both hands.

Her gown was folded up over her breasts and a curtain was arranged around her ball of a belly. She was grateful; she certainly didn't want to see the gaping hole on her stomach. Her body began to numb and deaden after the IV was inserted. She didn't felt them shave and smear cleanser on her belly.

"Okay, Rakka, we are making the incision now."

She was surprised. She didn't feel the blade cutting her flesh, but she could feel Riddick's hand between hers. She could see the doctor's arms moving as her hands worked.

"Riddick, how does it look?"

He was standing and his goggles were focused on the work at hand. "Neat."

"Neat?"  
"She's very neat about carvin' flesh."

"We're now making an incision into your uterus. After that, we'll cut open the amniotic sack and then we'll introduce Jack into the world."

Rakka felt the pressure and her hands tightened on Riddick's and his tightened on hers. Three minutes later, Dr. Turner lifted up a wet object above the curtain. It was placed into the waiting hands of a nurse bearing a soft towel. It was carried to a small table where slow running water could be heard. Five seconds later, a cry rose up in the operating room.

"Here he is!" A nurse carried the screaming infant to his parents. Rakka released Riddick's hand and her arms lifted to take her newborn son. She held him close, and listened to him quiet his cries while she spoke softly to him. She performed the age old ritual of counting fingers and toes….he had all ten of both.

She kissed his ears, his hands, his cheeks, chin, nose, mouth, eyes, and head. Her fingers stroked the bottom of his tiny feet and brushed his toes. She gave him her finger to squeeze. She felt the emotions of love and devotion bloom and grow inside her chest. If love was physical this baby would be covered in it.

She glanced up at Riddick and smiled. "Riddick, I love you."

Riddick was sitting on a stool by her side. "You're high on the drugs and the kid."

"Please! Do you want to hold him?" Rakka asked.

"He'll need to sanitize his hands before he can." A nurse said.

Rakka glanced up and realized that they were still working on her. Dr. Turner smiled and said, "We're just fixing you up again. It'll take a while, so enjoy your baby."

She heard a sound behind her and Riddick sitting back on the stool. He had smeared sanitizing fluid onto his hands and was rubbing his hands together. Rakka eased the infant into his large hands when he was finished. Riddick held the child in his hands and stared at his second son. Rakka ran her fingers along Jack's soft and smooth brow.

"He is so beautiful." Rakka whispered.

"It may be a good idea if they go ahead and have Jack placed in the nursery." Dr. Turner said sweetly.

"I want to have him longer…." Rakka said, not caring if she sounded childish.

"You'll have the rest of his life to hold him, Rakka." Dr. Turner replied.

Riddick handed the baby to a nurse who held the child close to her chest. She placed him a small crib/gurney.

"Bye bye, baby, bye bye." Rakka called, her arms aching to hold him again.

The nurse wheeled the crib out of the operating room and down the hall to a fork. Instead of turning right and going into the nursery, the nurse turned left toward an exit. She took the child out of the crib and swaddled it gently in blanket. She carried the child out of the building and down a small staircase. A waiting hover was parked near the exit. She got in the passenger side and the hover drove off and Jack was gone.


	44. Agony

Rakka was taken back into her room to recover when Dr. Turner and her crew were finished with her. Her stomach had been stabled with adhesive stables and her body was still numb. Riddick stayed with her throughout the rest of the surgery and was sitting with her now in the recovery room.

He had stripped off the sterilized protection and was set back in the same chair as he was before. They were the same position as they were before the c-section, except now she wasn't pregnant anymore.

"Riddick, go tell the nurse to bring Jack here." Rakka said. "I want to hold him again."

"I did, they said they're processin' his info."

Rakka groaned. Processing a baby's information took a long time. Hand prints, foot prints, blood type, any possibly allergies, defects, birth marks, and gathering up and uploading government information took hours. "We won't be able to see him till morning."

Rakka yawned and said, "They gave me a sedative, didn't they?"

"Yeah, you're gonna be sore in the mornin'." Riddick replied.

Rakka managed to curl onto her side and into a comfortable position. She faced him and the words came out. "It could work out."

"What work out?"

"You know. Us, the kids, you, me, family, and the works…." Rakka shifted comfortably against the sheets. She wanted Riddick to be near her, now, tomorrow, the next day, always. "Why don't we get married?"

"Oh shit."

"No, 'oh shit' let's get married. We'll…we'll….go to the church…temple….thing….whatever Chrislams go….to do their….worshippy thingy…." Rakka giggled.

"Rakka, it's the drugs talking." Riddick leaned forward. "Yer all…fucked up in the head right now, yer not gonna remember a thing in the mornin'."

"No, earlier you asked me what I wanted and I'm telling you." Rakka grinned as hard as she could. "I wanna marry you, get a house, raise the kids…."

"Yer gonna be kickin' yourself in the mornin' for sayin' this shit." Riddick shook his head from side to side.

"No, no, I want you to be there in the morning with me."

"Rakka, jes go to sleep."

"Only if you lay with me." She held her arms out to him.

"Darlin', you know that if I get in that bed with you, there ain't gonna be any sleepin'. Sides, you just had a hole cut in your gut, you don't need me….straining your staples."

"Riddick….the baby is going to love you."

"Yeah."

"No, that baby is going to love you no matter what you've done in the past. Cause you're his daddy. Roland….Roland is angry and little uncomfortable, but he'll get over it. It'll just take time and care."

Riddick licked his upper lip and said, "Rakka, you have no fuckin' idea of what you are askin' me."

"I do know, I do." Rakka assured him.

"Go to sleep."

"Why? Cause I'm saying things that you don't want to hear? Am I making the infamous Richard B. Riddick uncomfortable by telling him I love him? I'm not talking about sex this time."

"Go to sleep and we'll talk about it in the mornin'."

"Fine." Rakka said pulling the covers up to her neck. "Night."

It was three minutes before the drugs finally knocked her out into sleep.

* * *

She awoke, she heard voices from outside. Riddick was loudly talking to someone. She winced as her stomach ached. She was very sore. Someone should have warned her she would be sore in the morning. Hell, they probably did, she could remember a thing since last….the surgery. She remembered holding Jack and him being taken to be processed. Then after that….it was a fog….

She shifted and could see Riddick towering over a doctor she didn't recognize. He looked menacing and she furrowed her brow. Suddenly, he grabbed the doctor's lab coat and slammed the man against the wall.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN, HE AIN'T IN THE GODDAMN NURSERY?"

She stared at the two men confused, then she felt it….slowly creeping over her, spreading like a black cancer into her heart and mind….blind terror. "Riddick!"

"Sir, please, listen to me….I'm sure that there's a mistake among our staff, but we are looking into it now as we speak!" The doctor whimpered.

"Riddick? What's going on?" She yelled.

"You fuckin' find him or you and me are going to have serious fuckin' issues."

"Y…yes sir…"

"Riddick!"

Riddick tossed the man away from him and entered the room. "Rakka, stay in here."

"Where the hell do you think I can go?" Rakka motioned to her stomach. "What is happening, Riddick? Were you talking about Jack?"

"Rakka, go back to sleep."

"NO! What happened to my baby?"

"He's missin'."

"Missing? What the hell does that mean? Missing?"  
""Meaning he ain't in the nursery like the motherfuckin' nurse said she was takin' him to."

"Where's the nurse?"  
"They can't find the bitch!"

"Then YOU find her?" Rakka yelled. "YOU handed MY baby to her!"

"The nurse….wasn't registered to this hospital…..nobody knows who she is…."

Rakka felt her blood chill and her bone marrow turned to ice. "You handed my baby to a complete FUCKING STRANGER!"

"How the fuck was I suppose to goddamn know she wasn't a nurse?" Riddick snapped. "She was wearing a fuckin' nurse uniform! She was in the same goddamn operating room with Dr. Turner."

"YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO KNOW!" Rakka screamed. "You are Richard B. fucking Riddick! You are suppose to know things, to sense things, to be able to do things! You are suppose to be able to protect us, protect Jack!"  
"DO I LOOK LIKE I GOT A GODDAMN RADAR ON MY HEAD?" Riddick roared. "How the fuck was I suppose to know that there were fuckers in a goddamn hospital?"

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Rakka screamed.

"MY FAULT?"

"YES!" Rakka screamed back. "IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE HERE! SOMEBODY WANTED TO STEAL THE GREAT RIDDICK'S BABY!"

"Bitch, you are out of your fuckin' mind….!"

"YOU FUCKIN' TAINT EVERY DAMN THING YOU TOUCH! I WAS BETTER OFF NEVER MEETING YOU! I HATE YOU! I WISHED YOU NEVER CAME BACK!"

"You're not alone, bitch." Riddick snarled. "I was thinking the same thing."

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Rakka began throwing anything she could get her hands on. Pillows, the clock radio, the vase of plastic flowers, the glass which held water and her novels she brought to read. He let the pillows hit him, but he side stepped the hard objects.

He left, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

A week later, Rakka was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. She never got to breast feed her baby. She remembered that she was breast feeding Roland hours after she gave birth. She only got to hold Jack one time….one time. Her breasts hurt, milk leaked from her nipple making a small damp spot on her hospital gown. She had cussed out a nurse for offering her pills to dry up the milk. She had screamed till her throat hurt and her arm stung from a needle injecting sedative into her system to force her to calm down.

She woke up hours later, her throat filling raw and her mouth dry. She drank water, but the ache was still there. It hurt….she wanted it to stop hurting. Not knowing where her little baby was. Where her little son was…..she only got to hold him once, just once.

A stroke on her forehead, cool, soothing, but the ache still remained. She opened her eyes and saw a dark face above her. "Hey, Rakka, how do you feel?"

Rakka parted her lips to speak, but a dry hissed escaped her lips.

The woman turned to a counter and poured a glass of water. The glass was brought to her lips and a hand cupped her head and lifted it. Rakka drank several mouthfuls and her head fell back onto the pillow.

"Sarabi….Did….they find anything yet?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Sarabi replied.

"Why can't they find my baby?" Rakka whimpered. "He…he….just can't disappear…."

"What makes it so hard, honey, is that he was taken before he was processed. They don't know his prints, blood type, any special birth marks, nothing. For all the know he could be anywhere…The only thing they can do is find the people who took him and force them to tell where he is."

Rakka swallowed back a sob. "How…is Roland…?"

"He's….not very well, Rakka. He misses you. He's been asking to see you, but you keep turning him away…"

"I…can't see him….I don't want him to see me like this…."

"What about Rid…"

"DON'T!" Rakka snapped. "I don't want to see him!"

"Rakka, he's been…"

"NO!"

"Alright, alright." Sarabi said.

"Sarabi….I only got to hold him ONE time…." Rakka sobbed..

"Shhhh……" Sarabi whispered. "Listen to me, I know you are hurt, angry, and at such horrible loss. I know it's something I can never understand, but I want to remind you of something. You aren't the only one who got to hold him just once."

Rakka closed her eyes and tears slid down her face. "I know…."

"He's been…very busy."

* * *

"Hi, Roland."

Roland looked up from his homework assignment he was doing within the common's kitchen. Carol was standing at the table near him. She was holding a pack of cookies. "Yeah?"

"Got any milk?"

"I don't know." He turned back to his homework and began writing out an answer to a question.

"Let me see." Carol said setting the pack on the on the counter near him and went to the fridge. She took out a galleon and turned to Roland, "Want a glass?"

"No." Roland replied scratching away at his answer sheet.

Carol collected a glass from a cabinet and filled it with milk. She pulled up a seat at the table after she put the milk back in the fridge. She glanced over Roland's homework while she opened the pack and said, "That isn't due till next Thursday. Why are you doing it on a Saturday?"

"HEY!" Roland snapped. His arms curled over his paper, covering it. "I HATE IT WHEN SOMEBODY LOOKS OVER MY SHOULDER!"

Carol jump back, almost spilling her milk. "Sorry!"

"Leave me alone!" Roland said in a hard voice.

"Hey, I was just…."

"I said go away!"

"Alright." Carol said standing. She grabbed her pack of cookies and milk and walked away.

Roland glared at her back before she was out of ear shot. "Bitch."

Carol whirled around. "I HEARD THAT!"

"What? I didn't say anything!"

"Yes, you did! You called me witch with a B!"

"Go away!"

"NO! I live here too! I'm staying!"

"COCKSUCKING BITCH!"

"HEY!" Alia rushed into the kitchen. She was holding a towel in her hand. She had been doing the laundry not too far away that she couldn't hear the yelling. "ROLAND!"

"I'm trying to do my homework and she's bothering me!"

"I was not!" Carol snapped. "I was just telling him that that assignment wasn't due till next week and he bit my head off and called me names!"

"I don't care about that!" Alia said. She turned on Roland, her eyes glaring. "Roland, I have NEVER heard such language this home!"

"Not my fault she's a cocksucking bitch."

"ROLAND!" Alia yelled. "GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW! Your mother is going to hear about this!"

"If she isn't making out with her new boyfriend or crying over her baby." Roland snapped.

"UPSTAIRS NOW!"

Roland grabbed his text book and answer sheet and stormed part Alia. On his way past Carol, he purposely slammed his shoulder into hers causing her to drop her milk. The glass shattered on the hard floor and whiteness spread about their feet.

"Roland, get back here, you have a mess to clean up!" Alia called.

Roland flipped a bird over his shoulder and stomped upstairs.

* * *

Rakka lay on her side, staring at the wall. The ache was still there, but now there was numbness, a nothing, that she took relief with. If she wasn't thinking, wasn't doing anything, the pain was gone…her baby…..she only got to hold him once.

Sound. No, she didn't want to hear. Go away. Don't make her think, don't make her feel.

"Rakka, get the fuck up. There some shit we gotta deal with." Riddick stood in the doorway wearing the same white shirt, black jacket, jeans, goggles, and boots.

"Go away, Riddick, please." She whispered.

"I know who took Jack, wanna help me tighten their screws?"

Rakka sat up. "What?"

"Adrian did some checkin'." Riddick replied. He shut the door behind him. "What the fuck you think I've been doin'? Not lying around on my ass like you for the last week."

"Fuck you." Rakka replied.

"Maybe later." Riddick replied. "Get up."

Rakka shifted upward with almost no pain. With fast heal medication and the doctor's attending to her (possibly in hopes of making up for loosing her baby), her stomach had healed and the only trace was a thin pink line on her stomach which would fade over time. "What did you find out?"

"Take a look." He tossed a folder onto the blankets near her thigh.

She picked it up and opened it. She couldn't understand the numbers and names on it. "What is it?"

"It's Dr. Turner's account records." Riddick took a step to her side and pointed. "Three days ago, she received a VERY large sum. 50,000 UDs, but it didn't come from the hospital, she didn't win any lotteries, nor did some rich uncle die or some shit. Fuck, I don't think this hospital can afford to pay that much in one month to one doctor. There's no name in the paid from slot. She just got it out of no where"

Rakka swallowed as it slowly dawned on her, "She sold my baby."

"The nurse I handed Jack to was in HER operatin' room. She took him out of the hospital."

"Let me get dress." She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed and began removing her gown. "Throw me some clothes."

Riddick walked over to the vanity where her unopened suitcase lay untouched since it was set there a week ago. She tossed her gown aside not caring that Riddick saw her wearing only her panties. She wasn't going through the chubby stage she had when after she gave birth to Roland. It seemed that her body wasted away along with her mind. It hurt, it really hurt. She had lost her appetite and only ate when she was annoyed enough by Sarabi to take a few bites of mineral and vitamin mush hospital food.

She slid into a pant of sweat pants and a maternity shirt which hung down at her thighs since she lost so much weight in such short time. She slid her feet into her wooden sandals she bought after her feet became too swollen of her regular shoes. She stepped to Riddick's side and they flopped against her soles with a loud pop. Damn, she had shrunk!

"Where to?"

"The bitch is in an examining room now. Adrian's there. We're gonna meet her at her office." Riddick stared at her. "Look, we are NOT bringing the cops in on this."

"What?"

"Lissen, I talked it over with Adrian and he looked some shit up. Ever heard of Black Baby Market?"

"Yes, they steal babies and sell them." Rakka felt her stomach lurch as she imagine a man and woman covered in silks, jewel, and drinking champagne taking care of HER baby because they had enough money and didn't want to ruin the woman's good looks by going through pregnancy and were too impatient to adopt.

"Yeah, they got a corporation out of it. Meaning they know loopholes and shit to keep themselves out of it with the cops. Adrian figured out the connections, but we need to know exactly where Jack went on those connections. They span to several planets near this system."

"SHIT!" Rakka gasped. "He could be OFF the planet!"

"Yeah, but possibly not. Could still be in the colony, but that's what we're gonna find out."

"Why not call the cops and get her ass…?"

"Rakka!" He clipped. "If we bring in the cops, they'll do a full goddamn investigation into the corporation and they'll pull out. They may….kill Jack to cover their asses."

"Oh, my God…no…"

"That's why we're gonna get the info from Dr. Turner's mouth, at least know where to go next."

"Let's go get the bitch."

"One second." Riddick checked the door and made sure it was shut and locked. "Rakka, it's going to get messy. Meanin' if I have to, I will skin her inch by inch till she talks."

"You're going to hurt her?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

"Think you can take it?"

"Bitch took my son; I think I'll help you hurt her."

"Thinkin' it and doin' are two different things." Riddick replied. "I mean can you willingly hurt someone, not killin', hurtin' someone even if they scream, beg, cry, and plead for you to stop. Can you turn yourself off?"

"Huh?"

"Nothin', you think you can handle it, then let's go. But if you think you can't, then you can wait outside. That's what Adrian's gonna do when we start."

"I can handle it."

Riddick opened the door and walked out. She followed him outside. They walked down the hall and turned the corner. Adrian was waiting outside of Dr. Turner's office. He saw them and nodded.

He withdrew a pin like object from his pocket and inserted it into the door and jingled it inside. It opened and all three of them stepped inside. Adrian shut and locked the door behind him. "I think we got ten minutes, maybe less."

"Get what you can from the computer. Rakka go through her files and any personal information. Look for something that pertains to you."

Rakka and Adrian walked around her desk. Adrian planted himself at the computer and turned it on. Rakka opened drawers and went through everything. Rakka when through the desk and went to the file cabinet. She flipped through files, names, and dates, until she saw a file tucked way in the back. It was thick and she had trouble getting it out. She held it up and it was labeled BABIES in big, bold, capital letter in black marker.

She opened it and filed through the names. It was a list of women's names, expecting mothers with little babies. Beside many names were the printed word CANDIDATE. Five on one page, six on another, and then a full page, then seven on another. And beside each candidate word was….a price tag. $40,000 for one, $30,000 for another. And so on and so on until she finally found hers.

Rakka Laotaner CANDIDATE $50,000

"I wasn't the first." Rakka whispered. Other women had gone through the agony that she had suffered the past week. She checked the dates and realized to her horror they were dated years back. There were women out there who had suffered what she had for one week for years.

"Rakka, you found sumthin'?" Riddick asked.

"Here!" She held up the file. "I'm not the only one. There are names dated at least five years back!"

"Damn, that's good!" Adrian said. He cringed from Rakka's look of death and said, "I meant good not as in babies being stolen, I mean good as in how long she's been in it. That means she has strong ties to the Market and should know contacts and locations."

"What have you found out?"

"Give me name from the list."

"Tiffany Riley." Rakka called.

Adrian typed at the computer and said, "Give me another."

"Summer Ranger."

Adrian typed for a full minute and said, "Give me one more."

"Alisha Opal."

Adrian typed at the computer for three minutes and said, "I think I figure out how she works."

"How so?" Rakka walked to stand behind him.

"All three names and you have had c-sections schedule at night, weeks before their due date." He studied the compared information and said, "And the next day, baby was gone. Only thing they have in common is the locations. Two were in different hospitals on the same planet, and the last one was on a planet within the Helion system."

"She said that she was new when she became my doctor. But why these names and not the others?" Rakka motioned to a list without any candidates.

"Because they were women from broken families. Tiffany was pregnant teen that ran away from home, Summer had an abusive husband, Alisha had mental problems and no family. You, I suppose, that Terry died while you were pregnant."

"That's around the time I met Dr. Turner and she became my doctor." Rakka said. "It's my fault….all along it was my fault…"

"Rakka, I don't think it's your fault." Adrian said. "I mean look at that file. There's probably over a hundred women that she screwed out of their babies."

"Quiet and get down." Riddick snapped startling them. He was leaning against the wall beside the door.

Adrian slid out of the chair and knelt onto the floor. Rakka knelt to the floor beside him. She could hear the lock being unlocked and the door opening. Then there was a slam as the door was thrown shut and Dr. Turner's scream being cut short into a muffle. She lifted her head up and saw Riddick restraining Dr. Turner from behind and a large hand covering half her face. Her eyes were wide with fear as she fought to get free.

He lifted her and carried around the desk. Her long legs Adrian stood and moved away from the chair, taking Rakka with him by the arm. Riddick half threw Dr. Turner into the chair. She flopped into her chair for a second and glared at him. "I will have you arrested for this!"

Rakka found herself at Dr. Turner's side and her hand stinging. The woman's head was flung to the side from the slap. She looked at up Rakka with shock and fear.

"Adrian, wait outside." Riddick said.

"Okay." Adrian said his face pale as he left the room.

"Rakka…"

"I'm staying." She replied.

"Fine." He turned to Dr. Turner and said, "I think you might know something about how our kid disappear, Turner."

"I'm sorry that that happened, but you can't blame me….."

Rakka held up the file labeled BABIES. "Don't lie to us. Don't lie."

Dr. Turner blanched and licked her lips. "I…"

Rakka looked at her clothes. Her hair was done up in curls and she wore the white lab coat over a long red dress and shoes so shiny that they had to be new. "You were going out somewhere after work, weren't you?"

"Yes…a date…"

"Did you buy those clothes from the money you got for stealing my baby?" Rakka asked. "Did you go shopping with the money you got for STEALING my baby while I lay in my bed crying, begging God to bring him back to me? Were you trying on clothes while I was thinking my baby dead? Were you out having a good time while I was in that room living in sheer agony? I had to suffer so you can go out and enjoy yourself?"

"Rakka, you don't understand…"

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Rakka threw the file at her face. Dr. Turner threw up her hands and blocked the heavy file from hitting her face. Sheets scattered about her and floated to the floor. Rakka snatched up a sheet and grabbed a fistful of Dr. Turner's hair and yanked her head back. She shoved the paper into the woman's face and screamed, "CANDIDATE! CANDIDATE! FUCKING CANDIDATES! As if they VOLUNTEERED for you to take their babies! Why is there a candidate by my name? I know as hell know that you didn't come to me and say, 'hey, Rakka wanna make several grand? Just sell your baby'. YOU DIDN'T!"

Rakka dropped the sheet and grabbed another fistful of hair and started pulling. She pulled Dr. Turner's hair hard enough to make her fists shake. The woman screamed, her nails clawing at Rakka's arms and shoulders….and her face. Rakka bite her finger when it got near her lips and ignored the burning scratches on her cheeks.

Then her hands flung back, clutching two fistfuls of dark hair. Dr. Turner cried with pain and clutched her scalp. Rakka stared at her hands full of hair surprised.

"Turner!" Riddick grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her head back. "I'm only going to ask you this once and you better answer." He took a shiv from his person and held it in full view of Dr. Turner's eyes. "Where did they take Jack?"

"I don't know." Dr. Turner said through gritted teeth.

Flash. A thin line of blood lined down Dr. Turner's cheek. She yelped and her head was yanked back again. "Turner, you either know or know somebody that knows. Like the nurse that walked out of here with him?"

"Please, I can't…."

Another flash and her other cheek was cut. "Last chance Turner, or I start cutting things off."

"I don't know where she took him!"

Riddick slammed her head against the desk and yanked it back. Blood blossomed on her forehead and drizzled into her eyes. She blinked the blood from her eyes, and looked dazed. Riddick shook her head almost snapping her neck, She sobbed, "She took him to the skiff!"

"Skiff!" Rakka felt her blood chill. "They took him off planet, didn't they?"

"Yes…..yes…."

"Which planet?"

"I don't know."

Riddick placed the blade behind her ear. "Honey, yer gonna have one ear if you…."

"Riddick, don't." Rakka spoke up.

"Rakka…" Riddick focused his silvery eyes on her and his voice hard as stone.

"Don't cut off her ear. Cut off her fingers and cauterize the stumps." Rakka said. "That way, she is forced to quit her job as a doctor, that way she can't do this again."

"I have a lighter." Riddick stared back at her.

"NO! NO! They went to Uma, planet Uma….the city of Discu!" Dr. Turner wailed. "That is all I know! I've never been to the city! I have never been to the building! I don't know where they operate there! I swear!"

"If we find out you're lyin', bitch….." Riddick drew a red line down her neck, over her throat.

Rakka looked Riddick steadily in the face and said, "Cut off her fingers."

Dr. Turner began to sob and Riddick studied her face. "You have to do it."

Rakka nodded, "I'll do it."  
Riddick nodded in return and offered her the shiv handle first. She took it and held it between her hands studying it. No doubt he made it with his own hands and sharpened it. She ran a thumb along the blade and pricked her thumb. "Will you hold her for me?"

"Yeah."

He reached around and grabbed Dr. Turner's wrists and forced her to place her hands palms down on the desk. She struggled, trying to bite his arm. Riddick released a wrist and slapped her face hard enough to draw blood from her lips. He grabbed her wrists together in one hand and slammed them onto the desk. He smacked a hand across her mouth and held it there muffling her moans.

Rakka stepped forward holding the shiv by the handle. Dr. Turner was trying to curl her fingers away from her, curl her hands into fists, but Riddick pressed her hands downward onto the desk so hard she had no choice for to keep them open and outstretched.

Rakka held the blade against the first digit of Dr. Turner's hand. She swallowed. She remembered back year ago, when Riddick and she went out looking for a little girl….what was her name? She had forgotten that sweet little girl's name. She only got to hold her baby once. Riddick had cut off a man's fingers….she had been shocked….now she was about to do the same thing…

"I trusted you." Rakka said. "I trusted you and thought you were my friend. I thought you cared about me and my baby. All you cared about was the merchandise, my baby!"

Dr. Turner's eyes pleaded with her and tears dribbled over Riddick's hand clasped over her mouth. Rakka looked directly into Riddick's eyes and put pressure on the shiv. It was sharp. Blood spurted over her hand, Dr. Turner screamed from behind Riddick's hands, and the shiv's blade thumped into the wood beneath her severed finger.

Rakka felt bile build in her throat and she dropped the shiv. She ran from the room. Riddick released Dr. Turner and she started screaming. He backhanded slapped her across the face silencing her. He picked up the shiv and shoved it into Dr. Turner's throat. She gurgled and choked on her own blood. Riddick left the room after unplugging the phone to keep her from calling for help before she died.

Adrian was leaning against the wall, face still pale. Riddick looked at him and he pointed down the hall. "She went down the hall and took a left."

Riddick followed the directions and found Rakka down the hall vomiting. She was crouched on the floor, leaning over a pool of spreading vomit. Her hair hung over her shoulders and curled in the putrid liquid. Her blue-violet eyes stared at it as if hypnotized.

Riddick stood there for a few minutes watching her heaving back. He reached down and lifted her up by the shoulder. "Get up, we gotta go."

"Where?"

"Uma, Discu. Where Jack is."

"My stomach hurts…"

"You had a c-section."

"I…."

"Fuck!" Riddick shook her and said, "Get over it. We gotta go."


	45. Search

Rakka threw several shirts and three pants into the suitcase. Her wet hair hung down her back and scented from three shampooings. She wanted to get the sweet sick smell of vomit out. She had thrown on loose fitting jeans and a blue button up blouse. She padded around the room barefoot, grabbing any thing she thought she may need.

"Mom?"

"Not now, Roland." She snapped stuffing socks into the corner of the suitcase.

"Mom, why are you leaving?" Roland walked into the bedroom.

"I said not now!" She slammed the case shut and struggled to lock it shut.

"When?"

"Roland, dammit!" She turned to him and said, "We're going to find your brother. We know where they took him………! When the hell did you shave your head?"

Roland shaved a hand over his smooth bald head. "I did it last night."

Rakka stared. He looked so much like Riddick now, especially with the black goggles. "Why?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" She stared at him. "Roland, you know I hate that answer. You don't know why you decided to go into the bathroom, take a pair of scissors and a razor, and take the hair off your head!"

"What do you care? You wouldn't see me all week! Why should you care now about how I look?"

"You and I are going to have a long talk about…."

"Talk! Talk! Talk! You keep saying we're going to talk, but you never….."

"I would love you sit down and talk with you, but we have to go and find Jack!"  
"Why don't you tell the police?"

"They'll kill Jack to hide him!" Rakka snapped.

"Where are you going?"

"Riddick said not to say where we're going. Adrian will be here so…."

"When will you be back?"

"I don't know. We could be gone for weeks."

"I haven't seen you all week and now you're going on some honey moon with him!"

Rakka turned and glared at him. "No, I am going to look for your baby brother, Roland."

"Let me come with you!"

"No!" Rakka looked at her suitcase. Damn, she forgot to get her toiletries. Why did she care about them? She knew she would want them if she didn't have them. "Riddick says it may be dangerous. These people make a LOT of money selling babies and they are not going to give up one without trouble."

"Riddick says this, Riddick says that! You listen to him more than you ever listened to Dad!"

"Roland! I can't argue with you right now!" Rakka said going into the bathroom. "Riddick is outside waiting in the hover."

Roland followed her. "Fine! I'm going back to my apartment!"

"No, you are going to move your things into Adrian's apartment and take the extra bedroom." She began gathering toothbrush, pads, makeup, and other bathroom necessities.

"Why? I can live by myself!"

"I know you can, but you are being punished." Rakka said grabbing two roles of toilet paper. She didn't know whether Riddick's ship had toilet paper, so she wanted to be prepared.

"WHY?"

"Alia told me of what happened earlier today. You had no business speaking that way to Carol, or ANYBODY!" Rakka walked back to her suitcase and opened it again. She stuffed the bathroom toiletries into the case atop the clothes. "And you're grounded. No vid, gaming consoles, no friends, no going out, nothing. You are to get up, eat breakfast, go straight to school, come straight home, do homework, eat dinner, and go to bed."

"How long?"

"Till we come back."

"But you said you may be gone for weeks!"

"I know." She shut the case again and locked it. "We'll try to call."

"THAT'S BULLSHIT!"

"Roland!" Rakka yelled. "That is the exact language that got you in trouble!"

"It's stupid! It's not fair! I'm not a kid! I can cuss, people cuss all the time at school!"

"I'm not their mother! I am YOUR mother and I will not have you swearing in this House!"

"You're not my mom! You're gonna run away with him and forget all about me! Go off and have your own little family with him!"

"Roland, that is not true." Rakka said. "I love you and Riddick cares about you…"

"No, you don't! You wouldn't look at me and he wouldn't talk to me!"

"Roland, please, I….want to talk to you, but….I just don't have time…"

"Go! Leave!" Roland snapped. "I don't care if you ever come back!"

He turned on his heel and stormed to the bedroom door and slammed the door behind him. Rakka stared at the door and sighed. He'll be over it soon. She dragged her suitcase off the bed and to the door.

Riddick was in the driver side of the hover when she managed to drag it out the front door. "What the hell took you?"

"I…I had a little fight with Roland. He's not happy about us leaving." She opened the back of the hover and hefted it into the backseat. She waited for him to say something, anything about Roland, but instead she received silence. She walked around and got into the passenger side of the hover.

Riddick turned it on and rotated it to head down the drive. They coasted down the driveway and they sat in silence. Rakka touched her hair, wishing she had brushed it out before walking through the door.

"Do you think he's alright?" Rakka asked.

"He's just mad." Riddik replied.

"No, not Roland, Jack. Do you think he's alright?"

Riddick was quiet. He tilted his head and said, "They paid $50,000 for him."

"That doesn't answer my question, Riddick." She said.

"I don't fuckin' know." Riddick said. "They'll sell him to the highest bidder. Just like fuckin' mercs. They sell him to the highest payer."

Rakka swallowed and stared at her baby's father. He had been sold many times. Caught, put into cargo like cattle or merchandise, and sold to the highest paying Slam. Just like Jack. "I'm sorry."

There were several long minutes of silence and then she spoke, "What is our plan?"

"Get to Discu. Hole up somewhere. Look around."

"Could you be a bit more specific?"

"First, we will drive to the ship. We will board the ship. You will sit your ass in the passenger seat and I will sit my ass down in the pilot's seat. I turn the ship on, ship goes up into space…."

"You are such a fucking smartass!" Rakka yelled. Her blue-violet eyes flashed with rage. "I am worried, scared, and still in pain and you are making smartass remarks!"

"Listen, bitch, I don't know. I don't know, but I have an idea of where to start. I'm playin' it by ear and yer just along for the ride."

Rakka swallowed. "What do you need me to do?"

"Whatever I say." Riddick said. "Just like we were in the Slam again."

"And I'm your bitch again."

"You've always been my bitch." He turned onto the highway ignoring her look of anger.

"I don't want to talk anymore." Rakka said.

"Fine." Riddick shrugged his wide shoulders.

They road the rest of the way in complete silence, and not looking at each other. Riddick soon turn off the road and guided the hover across the grass.

Rakka wanted to ask where he was taking them, but she knew he could give her a smart remark in reply. The hover trail across the plain for almost an hour before he brought it to a stop. He parked it over a patch of grass and turned it off. He got out and Rakka follow suit.

She opened the backdoor and dragged her suitcase out. Riddick was walking out into the field and snaked his hand into his pocket. He slid a little control from his pocket and held it upward. His thump pressed a button and in the distance came a sound of an engine being started.

A silver figure appeared in the early morning blue sky and grew larger. Rakka knew it was his ship before it drew near enough to land meters away. A ramp unfolded from the back with a hiss and exhaust blew from engine and made the air strong enough to sting their noses.

Riddick headed to the ramp and Rakka followed dragging her case behind her. It was surprisingly wide with two passenger seats on either side. She secured her suitcase into a compartment cabinet on the floor then she eased herself into the passenger seat near the pilot's.

"How long till we get to Discu?"

"Three weeks." Riddick placed himself into the pilot's seat and buckled up.

"Riddick, we need to get there sooner!"

"Three weeks is all I can do with this heap." Riddick began powering up the ship, flipping switches for what function Rakka could never fathom. "You want somethin' faster then yer gonna hafta wait till I can get us a new one."

Rakka threw her hands up and said, "Forget it, let's just go!"

Riddick began accelerating the engines and Rakka felt the ship lift off the ground and ascend upwards. She held onto the metallic poles on either side of the chair and closed her eyes. Flying upward gave her vertigo and the emptiness of space scared her as the blue bled back to reveal the obsidian dotted with specks of white.

* * *

She might have dozed off, for that she was jolted when she heard him unbuckle his harness and lifted from his seat. She winced when she saw the emptiness of space outside the front window and looked away.

"We'll need to go into cryo." He walked toward her, his hands holding the railings attached to the ceiling steadying himself. He stopped in front of her, looking down at her.

"Oh." She looked up at him and noticed how the darkness seem to embrace him.

"Unless you wanna do somethin' to occupy each other during the wait?" He tilted his head at her and smiled.

"Riddick, I don't think that I can…." She crossed her arms over her chest.

He lowered his head and touched her lips with his rough middle and index finger. They stroke the smooth velvety lips bringing a tickle to them. He applied pressure his index finger brushed her front teeth. "Open." His voice purred husky, low, dark, dangerous sending chills down her spine.

She parted her lips as she opened her mouth. His finger slid forward and glided across her tongue. He added his middle finger and knelt before her. His grasped the back of her left knee and drew her closer. Her legs folded around his waist, her button on the edge of the seat, and she could smell him, musky, and it tugged at her loins. His hand slid of her thigh and slipped under her shirt and rubbed his fingers up her spine. She found her head beginning to slowly bob on his fingers.

No, no, no, not now! She….wasn't….in….the….mood. She shook her head away spitting out his fingers. "Riddick, stop it." She tried to push him away. He backed away from the seat, taking her with him. His hand curved around her back and drew her off the seat. His other hand had somehow undone her safety harness and she was on her butt between his knees, her legs splayed around his waist.

He cupped the back of her head and kissed her lips. She responded, her lips tugging at his, her tongue seeking his. Her body was slid forward and she was on her back, her arms around Riddick. Her hands slid up his back, the back of his neck, and her fingers and palms scrubbed the fuzz on his scalp.

Rough hands slid up her shirt and over her ribs to her breasts. She thought for a moment, they were still swollen with milk for her baby……she only got to hold once…..

"Stop, stop! Get….get off!" She broke her lips away from his and began shoving at his shoulders. She kicked her feet to scoot away from him. His hands grasped her hips as if to pull her back, but she batted at his hands. "I said stop."

"What? Can't have sex?" He asked slipping off his goggles. His mercury gaze captured her eyes.

"You know I can't." Rakka snapped.

He leaned forward. Rakka scooted back and her shoulder blades hit the seat behind her. His tongue darted out and stroked her lips. "What about your mouth?"

She swallowed. "I…I…could……"

His hand toyed with her pants button and he breathed into her face. "I'll do you first….." He undid the button and the rip of her pants being unzipped touched her ears.

No harm, no way he could hurt her doing it this way. Doctor said to avoid sexual _intercourse, _not oral sex. "Riddick, don't use your fingers. Not at this time, okay?"

Riddick tugged her pants off her hips and she rolled her shirt up her ribs to bundle beneath her breasts. She folded her arms beneath them incase Riddick wanted to fondle her chest. She didn't feel comfortable for him to touch her milk laden breasts….she never got to breast feed Jack….

His upper body seemed to hover over her. His eyes were on her face as her panties were slipped down to her knees were her pants were. He gathered both pieces of garment and pulled down them her calves to her ankles. He cupped the back of her knees and shifted her bodily. She was flat on her back her knees apart; her long hair pool about her head.

Riddick shifted himself as well, his hands curved around her upper thighs. She closed her eyes as his head lowered. First he kissed her stomach, then trail lower. His tongue grazed her clitoris which was starting to pulse with want. Two rough fingers parted her outer folds and his tongue dipped further.

Her hands slid down her belly and stroked over his head. She enjoyed touching his head. It was weird, but that warm fuzz felt good to her hands. Riddick must like it if he never tried to get her stop or he didn't mind.

His lips surrounded her clitoris and a small moan lifted from her throat. His tongue darted at it while his hands stroked down her thighs and beneath her buttocks. He lifted her upward into his mouth. He alternated between swirling her clit in a circular motion and slipping his tongue up and down over it. Sometimes he would do torturous long licks, between from the bottom of her slit to her clitoris. Her clit would convulse each time his tongue slid slowly over it.

She whimpered and pushed on his head, trying to grind herself against his mouth against her. An orgasm clutched her belly as her legs convulsed in that frightened uncontrolled way.

Sweat beaded on her forehead and felt waves of sweating heat on her shoulders and back. Riddick, possibly sensing that she was getting close, begin to lap vigorously at her clitoris. Then it was over, she climaxed and inhaled catching her breath. Riddick lifted his head and licked his lips.

"Good for you?" He asked a hand trailing up her ribs.

"Yes." She whispered.

Riddick shifted upward and looked down at her lewdly spread legs. "Beautiful."

She felt his fingers touch her and came away with a white liquidly substance clinging to his fingers. Rakka couldn't help, but smile leeringly at him. She reached out and took his wrist and brought his hand close to her face. Her tongue flicked out at the white cum. A soft lustfully growl emitted from Riddick's throat which scared her a little, but fueled her passion as she sucked Riddick's fingers cleaned.

She wanted to curl up and take a nap, but she knew Riddick wanted his end of the deal. "Can I clean up first?"

He lifted from her and stood. She pulled herself up by the metal pole near her head and stood. She pulled her pants up to her knees, but headed to the bathroom without pulling them up all the way. She could feel her fluids dripping down her thigh as she entered the bathroom.

_Only Riddick could get her to agree to oral sex on the way to find her baby. _

She stepped out of the bathroom, her pants up without worry of getting them wet. Riddick was leaning against wall across from the bathroom closet. His mercury gaze seemed to lift her soul from her chest. She knew how he liked it, she was taught first hand by him in the darkness of the Slam. Except this time, she was able to see what she was doing.

"This time I want you to swallow." He said, dropping his hands to his side.

"I…may choke."  
"You can let it drop on the floor….as long as you lick it up."

"Fuck you."

"Will you?"

Rakka dropped to her knees in front of his legs, her hands at the front of his pants. She undid his belt and unzipped his fly. She peeled his pants back exposing his hard member. She pushed herself up on her knees and took him into her mouth. She lipped the head, tugging it with her lips, no teeth. Her hands curved on his hips trying to draw him downward, he was so tall and she was so short she was at an odd angle with him.

She leaned back to look up into his face. "Could you either bend your knees or sit down?"

Riddick made an annoyed sound in his throat, but he shifted away from her and sat down in the nearest passenger seat. She scooted over and forward till she was sitting between his knees. She leaned forward till her ribs were poked by the edge of the seat. She clutched his thighs to pull him forward. He shifted forward and his hand grabbed a handful of her hair and he jerked her forward finally impatient.

She opened her mouth and let him guide himself into her mouth. He must have gotten impatient enough to use her himself. She didn't mind it; truthfully, she liked feeling his hand on her hair when he was gentle. First time, back in the Slam, he had roughly yanked on her hair to gratify himself.

She fluttered her tongue along him as her head bobbed downward. She took enough of him inside till it almost touched the back of her throat. It was done slow at first, to get her use to the feel of his girth inside her mouth. She opened her mouth wide to keep her teeth from brushing, but then again he never minded a little teeth.

Her hands cupped his hips as she pushed up on her knees to give herself a better angle. His other hand brushed her hair from her face and her head was tilted back. She looked up into his silver eyes. His eyes were as deep and strong as they ever were, his lips were parted, but his jaw looked tight. He licked his upper lip and grinded his hips into her face.

His pace quickened and his hold on her hair tightened. He shifted forward, his knees spreading further apart. She leaned forward and she would get a gagging reflex each time he touched the back of her throat.

Warm liquid spurted into her mouth startling her. It hit the back of her throat and she managed to swallow it. He slid out with fluid trailing along her tongue. He slipped out of her mouth and a white sticky substance trail down her chin.

He released her hair and leaned back in satisfied euphoria. She swallowed the rest of the cum and was about to wipe her chin when she thought, "_I don't want Riddick's cum staining my sleeve." _She scooped it into her mouth with a finger and swallowed it.

"Coulda went to the bathroom and washed it off." Riddick said.

"What? Waste this good stuff?" Rakka replied smacking lips. She grinned and said, "How many girls get to say they swallowed the infamous Richard B. Riddick's cum?"

Riddick pulled his pants up. "Twenty five…maybe thirty. Those are the only ones I can remember that WANTED to swallow."

Rakka stared at his face and set back on her heels. "You have a way of just putting the air out of someone's balloon, you know that?"

She clasped her hands on his knees and pushed herself to her feet. She leaned forward, hand on his shoulder and kissed his mouth. He responded, his tongue stroking her lips as she tugged on his with hers.

"Thank you." She said against his mouth.

"For what?" His teeth tugged at the corner of her lips.

She slid her arms around his neck and curled herself into his lap. His arm slid around her back cupping her shoulder and the other slide across her lap and curved around her hip.

"For letting me forget….the pain for a short while…." Rakka ran her tongue from the corner of his lips, up his cheek, and along the side of his nose.

Riddick leaned forward, and his lips pressed against the pulse at her throat. Rakka's tongue slid up between his eyes as he leaned forward, along his brow and stopped at the hairline of his fuzz. She kissed the rough fuzz and hugged him close to her as his lips closed on her pulse.

She had to stop; it couldn't go any further, unless she didn't mind possibly hurting herself. He was so intoxicating; the feel of him against her, his hot mouth on her neck, his warm skin, and the way he breathes….he breathed like anyone else, but to feel him breath excited her for some reason.

"Riddick, we….we have to stop now." He kissed her mouth, his tongue slipping inside her mouth as if to gag her words. She tugged away, breaking the kiss. "If I could I would fuck with you all the fucking way to Discu, but…..I can't…I haven't healed yet."

Riddick leaned back and licked his upper lip. "You owe me, you fuckin' owe me after blaming me when it was your fault."

"Wha?"

"Remember? My fault for forkin' Jack over to the nurse?" Riddick said leaning back shifting his lower body forward. She almost fell off his lap at the sudden movement. "How I taint everything I touch?"

Rakka swallowed and said, "Look, I….was upset…"

"You think I wasn't upset?" He cocked his head and stared at her. "My kid was taken too. While you lay around on your ass feelin' sorry for yerself I was out there huntin' for the fucks that took 'im."

"Riddick, I'm sorry. I apologize; I shouldn't have said any of those things to you." She said rubbing her face. "I just got out of surgery and I wake up to see that my baby is missing. I wanted….needed to lash out at something and you happened to be there."

"So now I'm your whipping boy, huh?"

Rakka glared at him. "You have to ruin everything because you're not getting a piece of my ass! God! You….are acting like a spoiled kid not getting his way, you know that!"


	46. Nikki

He walked across the field, wading through the graves. This dream or vision was different. He was not the watcher, but the performer in whatever scheme the woman had in store for him.

He knew it was a dream, a cryo dream that he seemed to have every time he went under. That part of his mind that seemed to defy cryo sleep, kept him awake and aware. Now he was no longer in the cryo tube, he was not on the ship bound for Discu, he was in a field walking amongst a field of tombstones.

His boots crunched on dead leaves, sticks, and roots. Everything was dead, just like it always was in this dream world….or memory? Where was the warrior woman that haunted him, spoke to him, made him doubt his sanity, and gave him his shined eyes? Usually she was the one walking; wading through the graves.

He came to a hill which seemed to be covered in the shade of the curling dying trees that clung to what life they could glean from the soil. He treaded easily up the hill, his senses alert, awake to any possible threat.

At the height of the hill, surprisingly covered in vines and surrounded by weeds in this dead land was a small temple. It had decaying and cracking statues of muscular men bearing swords and primal armor. Furyans. The sides of the temple were covered with painted imprints of hands.

As he neared the decrepit temple, his felt a slight warming sensation at his chest. He glanced down and saw a silvery imprint of a hand glow over his heart. It seemed to pulse with his heartbeat. This hasn't happened since…..

A scent….a sweet fertile scent of a woman touched his nose snatching his thoughts. He inhaled and concentrated on the scent. Not the leather of the armor wearing woman, but he could scent metal and….fear mingled with pain. He stepped through the weeds and walked up the crumbling marble steps of the temple. He listened, nothing moved with the temple, but he could hear a faint rattle of chains deep within.

He stepped into the darkness, pushing his goggles up his forehead with one hand while the other bared his shiv. He was in a wide area that led down into a wide hall way. He glanced at the murals on the walls. They like any other mural in old temples told stories of battles, heroes, wars, and conquests. Furyans were a warrior race, and every figure depicted bore some sort of weapon and armor. He noted that each hero or heroine depicted bore a silver hand imprint over his or her heart.

The passage blocked in ward up ahead, leading into a narrower passage. A small high pitch whine was ahead and he stepped forward, his boots kicking up dust. He noticed that the dust hadn't been disturbed as he traveled forward. Was there perhaps a back exit to this temple?

"Shit."

It was led into an altar room. There was an altar in the middle of the room. It was small and narrow with neat grooves along the edges and spigots at each corner to pour blood into small basins on the floor. There were ancient red stains where full basins were switched out for empty ones and some of the blood has splattered onto the floor. The table was too small for a human body to rest upon and it seemed to be more designed for the slaughter of animals as depicted on the murals around the small dome.

What caught his attention was not the altar or the murals depicting sacrificing animals, but was the small woman sitting on the floor curled into a small whimpering ball. Hundreds of chains curled about her connected to cuffs at her wrists and ankles. They were looped through rings on the floor. They cover the floor and were thick, but they shone as if they were newly crafted. There was more than to subdue one woman….hell possibly more than enough to subdue HIM.

He treaded through the chains, chinking them as he stepped. The woman flinched as if she expected to be kicked. She was nude and the chains almost covered her like clothing. He could see a collar around her throat and rings lined it and from those rings were heavy looking chains. Multiple cuffs laced with rings connected to chains traveled up her arms leaving only space for her to bend her elbow if she had the strength to do so from the weight of the chains. Three cuffs were spaced up her legs to her knees, and then two large cuffs around her thighs were connected to formidable thick chains. It resembled something from a very bad bondage porno.

He knelt on the carpet of chains. Her head was bowed and blonde copperish hair hid her face and shoulders. He lifted her head with a hand and blinked with surprise. Rakka Laotaner was blind folded with a thick plastic blindfold that seemed to have been molded to fit her eye area and she had a thick bit in her mouth.

"Rakka?" His fingers went to the molded blinder and tried to pry it up with his fingers. It remained as if it was attached to her skin. It was the color of her flesh and it gave her an eerie look of a woman with no eyes sockets or eyelids. He flicked at the edge with the point of the shiv since he kept his nails short.

A low moan escaped her bit and Riddick touched her jaw. "Rakka, it's me." He ran a hand up her face and touched something odd. Metal in her ear. He lifted her hair and saw a metallic ear plug inside the shell of her ear. She couldn't hear him if he screamed centimeters from her ear. This had been done to him before as means for travel by mercs and punishment in Slams. Gagged, blindfolded, and deafen to the world. Only sense he could use was his nose. It mostly drove men insane from the loss of senses and claustrophobia, for him it seemed to open his world for his nose and mind.

He stroked her shoulder to keep her from panicking as he touched a chain from his wrist and followed with his hands to a ring on the floor. He grabbed the chain with both hands and pulled upward. He pulled till his hands, wrists, and arms shook with effort. He almost collapsed to his knees from the straining effort.

This was unusual for him. He was stronger than most men and the floor was cracked and weakened from great age. Removing the chain from the floor should have been a very easy thing to do. He took his shiv and leaned forward to try to pry the ring from the floor.

"That will not free her." A very familiar voice spoke.

He didn't bother to look up or turn to see the woman that haunted his cryo dreams. She as standing on the other side of the alter watching him. "Why is she here and like this?"

"This is her own making…or will be of her own making."

"This a prediction or some shit?"

"Yes, for her and for you."

Leather cladded feet stepped across the sacrificial chamber. He heard her hand brush away the dust on the murals and she spoke, "She will chain herself and you will return to the world of the forgotten race."

"Meanin' I'm gonna go back to home sweet home Furya? No thanks. Got no use for dead planets."

"Don't underestimate your own people, little one."

Riddick threw his head back and laughed. "Lady, I've been called a lot of things in my day! That ain't one of 'em!"

He looked over his shoulder and the woman was standing by Rakka. A hand on the small woman's head, stroking her hair as one would comfort an abused dog. Rakka leaned against her thigh as if reaching for the glint of kindness shown to her in her purgatory.

"This one will lock herself away. From you, her world, her children, and herself. You can't break her free, but you can show her how to break free when the time comes."

"Who the fuck are you?"

The woman looked up at him. "You haven't figured it out?"

"Figured what out? You've been screwin' with my fuckin' head since…since….too goddamn long!"  
Shirah tilted her head and said, "Funny you should mention god…."

She pointed upward toward the far wall. Riddick turned his head in her direction and saw something he hadn't paid much attention to when he entered the chamber. It was a large statue carved into the wall. It was a woman shaped from marble, her dreadlock hair melded in bronze, her warrior garments and the sword at her hip were real. It was the exact image of the woman who haunted him.

Sacrifices were made in her honor at the changing of the seasons. A Furyan priest would present a prized animal caught alive from a hunt and kill it, and present it's blood to the Furyan goddess, Shirah, in hopes of plentiful and rewarding hunts and strong baby boys for the coming season.

Where this information came from or how it attained it inside his head, Riddick didn't know nor did he wanted to. "Get the fuck out of my head, dammit!"

"Very well." Shirah replied stepping back away from the chained woman on the floor. "I will…for now."

"What the more do you fuckin' want from me? I killed him! I killed the fucker that ghosted your people…."

"They are your people too, Riddick." She pointed at Rakka. "You cannot run from them as she cannot run from her people and her heritage. Her destiny is woven within yours."

"She's Hitomian, not Furyan." Riddick retorted.

"She has born two half Furyan boys and the third is yet to come."

"I just knew there was gonna be a third." Riddick grumbled under his breath.

"A daughter, your daughter."

"You still haven't told me what you want from me. Otherwise you wouldn't be here now."

"You are correct, you are needed, but for now, your tasks lie elsewhere."

* * *

Then Riddick woke up in the cryo unit. The lid slid down to the bottom of the unit and he leaned upward. He lifted his goggles and blearily glanced in Rakka's direction. She was still in cryo sleep, secured only by the safety straps around her torso and legs.

He had set his unit to awaken him hours before they arrived at Discu. Gave him time to go onto the Net and get a lay out of the city and have an idea of where to start. Adrian managed to give him some police reports, some maps of the tough areas of the city where the dredges and low lives thrived. Places to start looking, from the bottom up.

Rakka heard the hiss of the cryo opening. She shifted and reclined back into the padding. She had such a hard time getting up after cryo. She wanted to sleep more, just close the lid and go back under.

A rough hand grasped her upper arm and jerk her upward. A rough voice was giving her orders that she couldn't comprehend. _No, leave me alone, I want to sleep, go away._

She was slammed into a seat and she managed to make out the bleary image of a massive city below. She gasped with shock and vertigo leapt up her stomach and chest. She closed her eyes to block to view, she turned her head and concentrated on Riddick who was steering the ship.

"Where are we landing?" She moaned.

"Public hangar." He replied as he began opening a signal to radio in his landing.

"Wait, won't we have to pay a weekly fee for something like that?" She had stupidly hadn't considered money. She would have brought some with her if she had thought of it.

"Don't worry. I'm the Lord fuckin' Marshall, I got the cash. But it is under a William Johns' name." He arranged for a landing with a crew located within a nearby public hangar. "Lissen, before we land few things we need to get straight. One, I'm Johns. Riddick may be out of the Slam system, but that don't mean people don't remember my name. Two, whether you like it or not we're a couple. You are my bitch so don't flirt around like you did with Toombs and yer on yer own."

"You are never going to forget that, are you?" Rakka asked.

Riddick ignored her remark and said, "You do what I say and let me do all the talkin'. Here." He held out a shiv, handle first. It was smaller than his, but still lethal. "I take it you still remember how to use it, jes don't cut people's heads off with it and it'll stay sharp."

Rakka stared at it for three seconds before she accepted it. "We're going to bad places, aren't we?"

"Bad as in?"

"Dangerous. Muggers, rapists, murderers, and thieves."

"Jes described a Slam."

"I know."

"Yeah, that's where we gonna be livin' for a while." Riddick glanced at her and said, "Either cut your hair or wear it up. Did you bring old clothes like I said?"

"Yes, nothing fancy, nothing that looks expensive, just old stuff that I wear around the house. And no makeup or hair stuff like you said."

"Good. You do not want to be a good lookin' woman in this place…..unless you're a whore with a tough pimp."

"Why are we going to live there?"

"For one thing to hide. Anybody that wants to disappear goes there. Too many fucks living in the street to care about keepin' records. And that's where we start lookin'."

"What? But this is a corporation? Wouldn't it be better to look for it in a business section?"

"Babies are their crops. What better place than to get babies that won't be missed or wanted than the lower city? We'll be right in their garden, and they won't know it. When we are there you are not Rakka, you are….Carolyn Fry."

"Isn't that….the woman from the crash…?"

"Just remember when I say Carolyn, I mean you." Riddick said descending the ship toward a landing tower.

Rakka pondered this mystery woman's name while he guided the ship into an opening hangar. She had to be more than a fellow surviving crew member. She was Carol's namesake and now her alias. She didn't need to worry over a dead woman's name….but it was curious.

_Carolyn, Carolyn, you are Carolyn. When he says come here Carolyn, that means you._

The ship landed giving them both a short jump. Air and exhaust blew from the engines with a loud hiss. Riddick turned off the engines and released the ramp in the back. Rakka didn't unbuckle her safety harness until he did.

"I need to use the bathroom real quick." Rakka said as she went to the compartment that held her case.

"Fine. Gotta pay off the landing crew." Riddick glanced at her as he balanced his way to the back of the ship. "Got the shiv?" Rakka held it up showing him. "Wear it at all times and don't put aside for nothin'."

Rakka entered the small cubicles of a bathroom dragging the case with her. She used the toilet and then appraised her appearance in the mirror. She looked like she had just woken up from a rough night. She took a brush from the case and wrestled with her hair. She took some pins and pinned her hair up into loose ponytail and coiled it about her head. She took a loose fitting wool cap and tugged it over the bound hair. Copper blonde strands rebelliously fell about her face making her look messy. It was fine; she wasn't trying to look attractive.

She changed out of her well fitted jeans into a pair of pants she bought when she was pregnant. It was baggy and felt as if it would fall off her hips. Did she really loose so much weight in that one horrible week? Thankfully she brought a belt and she looped it through the rings.

As she threaded the belt through a ring at her hip, an idea came. She took the shiv and tucked it through the ring beside the belt. She pulled on a long sleeve sweatshirt she wore during her late pregnancy month and it fell to her thighs hiding the shiv. She finished the outfit by stepped into a pair of comfortable boots she could wear around the house.

She checked herself in the mirror. Yes, her baggy clothes hid her figure and the shiv at her hip. The messy strands of hair fell about her face hiding any attraction a man might see and took attention away from her blue-violet eyes. And she could comfortable see ahead of herself quite well.

She packed everything back into the suitcase and zipped it up. She left the bathroom and dragged it behind her and down the ramp. She spied Riddick talking with a man in the far corner of the hangar. She made her way to him and caught the end of the conversation.

"Plan on being here for a month? 250 UDs then."

"Good, and how much to….say that that ship ain't there?" Riddick asked holding up several UD chips.

The man studied the UDs in his hand and replied, "500."

"500? Then you better make sure nobody knows about the ship then." Riddick said with a touch of menace artfully added. He handed over the UDs, looking into the man's eyes through his goggles.

Rakka swore she saw a bead of sweat roll down the side of the man's forehead near his eye. "Sure, sure whatever you want." He pocketed the UDs, gave Rakka a quick glance and walked away.

Riddick glanced at Rakka and said, "Let's go."

He headed toward a wide exit way that led downward by ramp. She hefted her suitcase off the floor and followed him. He took a right into a wide crowded hallway. People were carrying duffel bags and suitcases either by hand or carrier. It was filled with sounds of people talking, laughing, shouting, and arguing.

It was maze like and she wondered how Riddick knew where to go, but he led her outside to a transport stop. People were sitting on a bench waiting, some watching mini-vids on their wrists, a couple supervising their children, and a young couple engaged in themselves to care if anyone saw.

Rakka seated herself beside the parents trying to sooth their children's restlessness. The children were two young boys, possibly ages 4 and 6. Good luck getting them quiet down. Riddick stood by her, not bothering to sit. He stood taller than everyone else, thick arms crossed over the broad field of his chest. Rakka set the suitcase between her legs. Living in the City taught her how to protect one's possession from pickpockets and thieves.

"Gerald, sit down." The mother commanded her four year old as she picked him up and set him on her lap. "Be still and don't move." The child huffed irritated that his mother interrupted his play and began swinging his legs against his mother's shins. "Don't kick me!"

Rakka watched this mother wrestle with her son. She remembered struggling with Roland whenever she took him out in public at a young age. She felt guilt at how she left things with Roland. She had completely brushed him aside when she got home to pack. In worry and fear for her missing son, she had forgotten about the elder son that needed her attention too. She'll have to call him and apologize.

* * *

"Why did you shave your head?"

Roland looked up surprised to see Carol standing in the bedroom doorway. "Hey, get out of here! Don't you know not to enter a guy's bedroom without knocking! Geez! I could have been naked!"

"The door was opened!" Carol said.

He turned his attention to his video console screen. He concentrated on getting an image of a hover through a set of rings for extra points.

"Hey! Your mom said no video games!" Carol said.

"Then go tattle." Roland snapped.

"Why are you so mean?" Carol asked her voice breaking. "What did I do?"

"You….didn't do anything. It's my mom and…..DAD."

"You're still upset because your Dad died?"

"He wasn't my dad…." Roland saved his game while Carol gaped at him.

"What are you talking about?"

Roland sighed and turned off the gaming console. "Shut the door and sit down."

After he was through telling her everything that Rakka told him, Carol was aghast. "You mean that big guy Johns is your REAL dad?"

"Yeah." Roland looked at the floor. "Mom is SO in love with him that she only cares about the baby and him."

"But Jack was kidnapped and you're fine. I think Jack needs to be worried about more than you." Carol said.

Roland wanted to snap at her; in fact he wanted to hit her. She was right, and he hated that. "Whatever…"

"I can't believe that for years Aunt Rakka was in love with another man….. it's like something out of a romance novel!"

"It ain't cool!" Roland snapped.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…." Carol looked away and twirled a finger on the bed cover. "It's weird."

"It's stupid."

"Is that why you're so mad at everybody?"

"I'm mad at them. Mom and….Riddick."

"Is that his real name?"

"Yeah." Roland pulled his legs and folded them to his chest. "They're….Mom isn't coming back."

"Yes, she will…"

"No. She's gonna find Jack, go off with Riddick, and never come back. She never loved my Dad….Terry. She doesn't love me anymore. As soon as he came back, she forgot all about me, she wouldn't see me when she was in the hospital, then she comes home, she leaves."

"What about Riddick, he's gotta…."

"He hasn't spoken a word to me since he freakin' got here!" Roland swallowed a lump in his throat. "He doesn't care. I don't think he even likes me. He just wants Mom, not me."

The apartment was small with a single bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room consisting of a couch that smelled of cigarettes and burned marks and cracked vid with a bad reception.

It was located in Skyfire apartments within the lower city, F sector…a.k.a. Slum City. It was a common enough name for the part of any city where lowlifes breed like rabbits, but it fit.

Rakka slid her suitcase into the tiny closet in the corner of the bedroom. The bedroom held only a queen size bed, a mirror, a desk, and closet. She sat down on the bed and listened to Riddick moving around within the apartment. He stepped into the bedroom and said, "Don't leave this apartment without me. You keep the door locked and don't open it for ANYBODY."

"Yes, I know that, Riddick." Rakka said as she removed her hat. Her long hair fell loose about her shoulders in a tangle mess. "When do we go look for Jack?"

"Waitaminute." Riddick said. "I'm gonna scout around the area. Get a feel for it, and keep my eyes and ears open."

"When will you be back?"

"Late."

"Then will we go look?"

Riddick leaned against the wall and stared at her. "Yes, we will. We will go out and look for him in every fuckin' nook and cranny in this seven hundred mile wide city. I'm sure we'll find him before he leaves for college by then."

"Look, don't be a smartass." Rakka returned. "Just go out and do whatever the hell you need to do to find my baby!"

"Fine."

Riddick turned and walked away. She heard the door open, lock, and shut in the living room. She rubbed her face feeling physically and emotional exhausted. She felt numb and it scared her. She should be scared, worried, and fearful for her baby, but she felt nothing but fatigue.

She lifted her shirt and looked at her stomach. She had healed in cryo sleep for that the c-section line was very, very faint. You would only be able to see it if you knew what you were looking for. She supposed she was healed enough for sex, but that man was out of his mind if she was going to put out for him after his attitude. He can take a cold shower.

Speaking of showers she felt like taking one. She stripped off and showered. Thankfully this apartment's shower was clean compared to the last one she had to use. God, that was so many years ago when they occupied that rundown apartment….before Riddick _sold _her to pimps. Things between them had changed so much. They were sex partners, parents of two kids, and were working together to find their lost baby.

She toweled off in the bedroom. Thankfully the apartment had no windows for peeping toms, the only entrance and exit was the door which was laid with heavy locks and security alarms. She checked the time and it was getting late, almost 9:00. Roland would be getting ready for bed at this time….if it was a school night.

She wanted to call him and talk to him. She knew it was possible to get in touch with someone on a different planet, but it was expensive. If Riddick had the UDs he claimed to have, then it shouldn't be any problem. She'll talk to him about when he returned.

She pulled on one of Terry's old sweat shirts which she wore to sleep at night in winter and stepped into a pair of panties. She laid out a pair of jeans in case they needed to leave quickly. Experience with Riddick has taught her many scary things.

She sat on the bed and watched the vid. She hoped Riddick brought something to eat when he returned. He did one time when they spent the night in an apartment long ago….before he _sold _her.

She hugged her knees to her chest and felt the tears come. This time….her baby had been _sold. _Riddick sold to Slams by mercs, she sold to pimps by _him, _her baby sold to childless parents by Dr. Turner….what was this universe coming to when human lives are considered….products, merchandise, stock, and commodities. Like their lives, bodies, and souls were no better than a canister of makeup to be bought, sold, traded, or used. She suddenly felt very vulnerable and scared.

She wiped away the tear that slid down her cheek. She got up and washed her face in the bathroom sink because it gave her something to do, something to keep her mind off her dire thoughts. She sat back on the bed, crossed her legs, and flipped channels to try to find a comedy to lift her mood…which was a failing mission.

The door opened. She turned her face to the bedroom door to called, "I'm in here!"

"Someone else is here!" A girl's voice called.

Rakka felt her blood chill. Did someone just freaking break in? The bedroom door opened and a girl…a wild girl walked in. She was thin, almost fragile looking, but she held a proud hour glass shape. She had bright blonde hair cut in a pixie cut and thick make up. She had bright blue eye shadow, and cherry red lipstick. Blush highlighted her cheeks and she had a small tattoo of a pink heart below her right eye. Long, long dangling gold earrings which consisted of hearts, stars, and crescent moons reached from her earlobes to her shoulders. She wore…what looked like a t-shirt, but it was really strips of cloth wrapped around her chest bounding her breasts tightly, but revealing enough to show off cleavage and the curves at the bottom of her breasts. Over this she wore a thick long sleeve black leather jacket was hung on her shoulders and opened. She wore old worn ratty jean short shorts, which were so short they looked like blue-jean panties. They fit her so tightly that Rakka was sure that she wore no underwear. She wore bright red high heeled ankle boots which were much too big for her. The girl would fit in fine in any magazine titled 'Sluts R Us' and this girl looked young, possibly 17.

Her eyes traveled over Rakka and she grinned, "She is so pretty!"

Before Rakka could open her mouth to enquire about the girl's identity, the girl bounded across the room and crawled onto the bed. She snaked an arm around Rakka's waist and to her horror the girl shoved her other hand down the front of Rakka's sweat shirt and grabbed a breast. Before Rakka could shout with outrage, the girl shoved her mouth against hers and a tongue was shoved between her lips.

Rakka, with all her strength, shove the girl away. The girl held onto the covers to keep from falling off the bed and she gave Rakka a languid look like a cat spying a bird with a broken wing. She heard a rough laugh and looked up to see Riddick standing in the door way with a shit eating grin on his face. The girl laid her hand on her thigh and Rakka swatted it away and scooted to the head of the bed. "Who the hell is she?"

"Nikki." The girl piped. "They call me Two-way Nikki cuz I go both ways."

The only sound that escaped Rakka's lips was a, "Huh?"

Nikki giggled like a little girl and said, "Means I like both girls and guys." She leaned forward. Rakka held up an arm to ward off any seeking hands, but the girl didn't touch her. She had a lewd grin and said, "For you, I'll take twenty percent off, kay?"

Oh, Good Lord in Heaven, she was a prostitute. Riddick brought back a fucking prostitute.

"Riddick…." Rakka hissed through her teeth. Rakka felt naked from the way the girl was looking at her. The girl looked over her shoulder at Riddick and wagged her tongue at him. It was pierced with a silver ball.

"Nikki, you wait in here. Rakka and I gotta talk."

"She's prettier than you said she was." Nikki pouted as she watched Rakka slid off the bed and walk around to Riddick.

Rakka glared daggers at Riddick while they left the bedroom and stepped into the kitchen to the far corner where the fridge and the washing machine were. The kitchen was dim and the only light came from a fading light from the ceiling. Neither of them bothered to command the lights to brightened. Riddick opened the fridge and removed a bottle of whiskey that somehow in some supernatural wasn't there when she looked around earlier that day.

"What the hell is that?" Rakka seethed pointing in the direction of the bedroom door.

Riddick yank the cork from the bottle and took a long swig. "She told ya, Nikki. She's nympho who makes money off her hobbies."

"What is she doing here?" Rakka asked. If Riddick had gone out getting laid when he should have been looking for her baby….she was going to kill him. She didn't care about him being the skilled killer that he is, that he was almost three times her size, possibly twenty times stronger than her, and could quite easily snap her neck with one hand. She would snatch that bottle from his hand, bust it on the counter, and drive the glass through his fucking throat. She could a wear a t-shirt or a medal proclaiming her Riddick's killer.

"Info." He replied taking another swig.

"Info? Sure, you're not talking about sex?"

"Look, Nikki's been around this part of the city her whole life. She's knows it better it than the back of her hand."

"And who told you this?" Rakka said crossing her arms and glaring up at him. "You just met her!"

"No, not really." Riddick replied. "Last time I saw her she was five years old playing with dolls and shit."

"Waitaminute! You've been on this planet before?"

"Yeah. Hidin' out. Needed some weapons and a way off this rock. Mercs were closin' in and Nikki's Dad sold me the shit I needed."

Rakka shifted back one foot and said, "So you went to him to see if he could help and you met…..his daughter?"

"Yeah, but when I got there, he had died five years ago and Nikki was running her own private business in their old apartment."

"So you ask her to help." Rakka growled.

"Actually, she's charging me, but after seeing you, I don't think that UDs are gonna cut it with her."

Rakka realized his meaning and hugged herself tightly. "Fuck you. No, uh-huh, no way. You did this to me once before!"

"And it turned out alright."

"Hell, no it didn't! I almost became I fucking whore! I was nearly killed in that mansion with all the glass! I had nightmares because of that!"

Riddick just leaned his head back and took yet another swig from the bottle. It was half empty at this point. "Didn't know you were such a homophobe."

"I am not!" Rakka hissed. "I have nothing against homosexuals. It's just that….the last time a woman was attracted to me, she tried to carve me up and eat me and the time before that, the woman drugged me and MOLESTED me. And, as YOU should know I am straight. And she's a KID…"

"She's legal. 18 years old."

"She looks younger!"

"Yeah, that draws in business for her."

"How long is she staying?"

"She's jest visitin'. We'll talk a little then she'll leave."

"Tell her to keep her hands off of me."

"Well….Nikki has this thing….she only hears what she wants to hear and to hell with anything else."

"Alright, alright, fine then. You two can talk out here in the living room and I'll go to bed and lock the door."

"Can't do that. See, Nikki and I have an arrangement." Riddick shifted his weight and leaned against the counter. "She's not…into money. She'll take it cuz it's the only way she kin get food, clothes, and shit, but she's more into….favors."

Rakka's mouth opened in shock. "Oh my god….Riddick….you are not going to….sleep with her? In THIS apartment?"

"I'm sure she would rather it be in the bedroom instead of the alley outside." Riddick cocked his head at her.

"I cannot believe…..you are a PIG!" Rakka hissed. "No, you will NOT…"

"Not what?" Riddick pushed away from the counter and stood straight to his full height. He loomed over her and his face darkened. "What am I not going to do what, Rak…ka…?"

She knew this look and this act. He had pulled it on her before when she was terrified of him, but she wasn't anymore. "Riddick, stop it. I mean…Stop…It….Now." She felt warmth of tears gathering, but she felt her eyes wide and concentrated on anger instead of pain. "You are selfish…you only care about what YOU want and to hell with anybody else's feelings."

Riddick set the whiskey aside and leaned against the fridge, arms cross and goggles eyes on her face. A smile tugged the corner of his mouth into an amused smirk. Again she was a puppy performing new tricks for his attention. It infuriated her more.

"Riddick, you…don't care. I always felt that you didn't care about me, but now you have given me proof that you just don't give a damn about me or Jack."

He tilted his head, the smile weakening.

"You….just want to…compare me to a younger girl that is what it is. You want to see if I'm….still good after having two kids….you just want to see if I'm worth getting into my pants again…."

"Bitch, you don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't I? Tell me why this….girl is so fucking important to us!" It took all her will not to let her voice crack.

"Alright, let me break it down for you." Riddick shifted his head and said, "Nikki is popular, I mean very, very popular. They say she fucked half the city. She knows shit about everybody. And she gets this info from pillow talk with her clients. Hell, if she ever decided to go to the police and spill her guts, she has enough dirt to get this whole ghetto cleaned out. And she possibly knows the dumb fucks that got Jack."

Rakka swallowed and shifted her feet.

"And if she doesn't know, then she WILL be able to find out." Riddick stepped forward and stood close to her. "Give Nikki a chance. I ain't comparin' you and her. You need to relax, you're getting stressed."

"I am not getting stressed!" Rakka snapped.

"Yes, you are. I could hear you yelling at Roland before we left Yari."

Rakka glanced away and said, "You heard all that?"

"Yeah. You took it out on him."

"No, I…"

"Yes, you did. And you're taking it out on me."

"I am not!" Rakka hissed. "You are missing the point. I don't want you to sleep with her?"

Riddick stood straight. "Why not?"

"You know….." Rakka bit her bottom lip and wanted to leave.

"Tell me."

"Look, if you want to sleep with her, go ahead, I'll sleep on the couch. Just…don't make a lot of noise…"

"You're jealous."

"No!"

"Then I can sleep with Nikki."  
"No!"

Riddick inhaled deeply. "Which is it? Can't be both ways. What do you want me to do?"

"What does it matter? No matter what I say, you're just going do what you want!"

"Maybe this time will be different." Riddick cocked his head.

"Have you told her about Jack?"

Riddick's face darkened and she stepped back, a trail of fear fluttering in her chest. "Don't change the fuckin' subject."

Rakka's chin began to tremble. She was scared, so scared of being hurt. She was scared of revealing her feelings….whatever they were. What right did she have to keep Riddick from sleeping with whomever he wanted? Her name wasn't tattooed on him, they weren't…together. They were just sex partners who were allowed to sleep with others.

She looked at him. God, this man was so beautiful and perfect; he may have been chiseled from marble and brought to life. His caramel skin was stretch taunt and smooth over a lovely combination of muscles. His face was sculpted with strong features with fine stubbles covering his head and lightly around his mouth and jaw. Men ought to go to prison for looking this good…..god, she almost laughed. She felt weak, she lusted for him now.

"What do you want me to say?"

Her upper arm was seized in a tight grip. "No, I fuckin' asked you a question."

"I'm bored!" A high voice announced. They both looked and saw Nikki standing nude in the bedroom doorway. She was leaning against the doorframe wearing only an anklet and her long earrings.

Rakka looked away embarrassed and Riddick said, "Give us a few more minutes."

"No." Nikki walked across the living room and said, "Lemme talk with her a few minutes."

Riddick let go of Rakka's upper arm and said, "Nikki, I…"

"….want to go into the other room and let us girls have girl talk for a few minutes." Nikki said smiling brightly. "Trust me; it's something as a guy you wouldn't understand. Go out and get some beer from the store down the street. Tell 'em Nikki sent ya, they owe me."

Riddick arched an eyebrow. He was not use to getting and obeying orders. Rakka expected him to snap something ugly, but he said, "Fine, I need to get out of here for a while anyway."

"Also, if you don't mind grab some chocolate and caramel syrup, please?"

"Whatever." Riddick stepped around both women and walked out of the apartment. Rakka tried to keep her eyes on Nikki's face and not on her nude body.

"Are you homophobic?" Nikki asked.

Rakka started surprise. "No! No! It's…"

"I came on too strongly, didn't I?" Nikki cocked her head and leaned her naked waist against the counter, arms crossed beneath her full breasts. "Sorry, I was a bit drunk and you were so good lookin'. If I was a guy I would probably say that my dick took over."

Nikki picked up the bottle of whiskey Riddick had set it aside and took a swig. She smacked her lips and said, "Man, beer's more my thing, but whiskey sure warms you up."

Rakka leaned her spine against the counter not knowing what to do. She didn't want to talk with Nikki, nor did she want to appear rude. She didn't want to be thought of as a homophobe….then again, she was attacked and molested by lesbians.

"Sorry about the kid."

"Huh?" Rakka looked up and caught an eye full of her breasts and concentrated on Nikki's earnest eyes.

"Riddick told me. Musta sucked. Go through nine months of hell, throwing up, craving shit, mood swings, and getting' fat, then when the kid finally comes, some shmucks take off with it. God, yer brave comin' here and lookin' for 'im yerself."

"I guess that's part of the deal." Rakka said. "You have to be brave for your children."

"And yer man."

"Riddick's not my…man."

"Yer sure? He talks about you like yer his woman."

"I'm sure in his head I am his woman, but…." Rakka licked her lips. She stepped away from the counter and faced Nikki. "What exactly did he say about me?"

"Said you were a fuckin' wreck about the baby." She took swallow from the bottle. "Said you had a miserable week in the hospital bed."

"Yeah." Rakka licked her upper lip. "It…was…the not knowing that hurt and still does. I don't know if he's…cold, hungry, hurt, scared, or if someone if taking good care of him…."

"That's because that's yer job. You're his mama, you're the one that suppose to make sure he's okay."

"Yeah." Rakka replied looked down at her bare feet. "I….feel so frustrated. I…I want to go through that door, beat on every door, and demand to know where my baby is. I want him back, I want to hold him, make sure he's okay so badly…it hurts."

"I'm sure Riddick feels the same way too."

"I doubt it." Rakka shifted her feet and crossed her arms.

"Hey, now. Listen to Nikki. Nikki knows men, even men as big, tough, and scary as big ole Riddy."

"Riddy?" Rakka looked up surprised. "If he heard you call him that…."

"Hey, I called him that when I was five."

"Only because he likes kids."

"Yeah, that's one of his pluses." Nikki agreed. She was silent for a moment and then, "He's worried about you."

"He is not."

"Yes, he is. He's worried about you and the baby."

"He doesn't show it." Rakka lifted her head to look at this young girl. "I…no offense, but he brings you here and…I think he wants a threesome."

"I ain't complainin'." Nikki replied. "I saw his body with his nice ass, broad shoulders, and a chest I could play fuckin' golf on. Told 'em I help him any way I could if I got a little taste of Richard B. Riddick."

Rakka felt jealousy flit up into her face and she hugged herself. "Well, everyone wants him then…."

"Lissen, I may fuck Riddick and I may give him an orgasm so hard he has trouble walking in the morning, but it's you he's gonna go home with, not me."

"Why do you say that?" Rakka asked. "He doesn't…"

"He does. He's trying to take care of you." Nikki pulled a chair from the table and sat down. Rakka kept her eyes on her face and not her body. Nikki crossed her legs and said, "Look, a guy like Riddick, he don't know shit about….ya know, the touchy feely stuff. I love you, you love me, I care about you, you care about me and all that shit. He's use to killin', not trustin' people, hidin', fightin', and livin' on his own. Only time he ever lets his guard down just a smidge and opens up just a smidge is during sex. Not rape, consensual sex. Since you guys had this baby and are still together, then that means you have plenty of sex."

Rakka nodded and said, "We also have a fourteen year old at home."

"Man, you two have been together for a while." Nikki whistled. "That's the only time he's ever….during sex I mean….I don't know the right word for it….oh…gentle?"

Rakka shook her head. "Sometimes he bruises me."

"Okay, gentle is not the word then. Uhhhh…..how about open?"

"No."

"Geez….I don't think there is a word in the English language for it. Comfortable, that has to be it."

"I…think that would work."

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. You see, Riddick's the last person you would see taking someone's temperature, binding a wound, or handing out medicine. He uses what he knows."

"I'm confused." Rakka said. "I…Are….you saying that he is using sex to….make me feel better because that's….all he…really understands in way of comforting someone?"

"Roughly, yes and no…..but more yes than no." Nikki groaned. "I wish I could explain it better, but it's something that's very hard to put into words. He's….entering a whole new world, a whole new scary chapter in his life with you. He's a D.A.D, a DAD! Riddick's scared to damn death."

Riddick scared? She never thought she would ever hear someone use the words Riddick and scare in the same sentence. Actually, scared of Riddick is usually the arrangement.

"He…uses sex to also comfort himself. Let me guess, he's always dominate. On top, when you go down on him, he's giving orders or holding your hair, not hurting, but controlling."

Rakka nodded.

"See, he's use to being in control of his surroundings. When he's thrust into something new, let's say a Slam, he quickly adapts and takes back control. With these kids and you, he's loosing control. He's thrust into a situation where he has no ground, no footing, no familiarity."

"So he wants to have sex to take back control?" Rakka asked. "God….I can't believe that we are psycho analyzing Riddick's sexual behavior!"

"Yeah, it can get confusing, ya know."

"My head hurts, just from thinking about it."

"Think he cuss us out if he found out?"

"I don't know. I think he would deny everything and give us smart ass remarks." Rakka leaned against the counter and said, "What I want to know…..is what's wrong with me?"

"What's wrong with you?" Nikki shifted to get more comfortable. "Why do you think anything's wrong with you?"

Rakka licked her lips and said, "I…it's Riddick and me……we have sex."

Nikki arched her eyebrows. "Well….he's an attractive man and you are an attractive woman….so…it's natural."

"No, no, I mean….why do I….have ….It's hard to explain."

"Well, let's start from the beginning." Nikki suggested. "How did you two meet?"

"Oh, my god, that's almost ancient history….but I remember it as if it was yesterday. He just showed up one day in the middle of the night, in the woods, in the rain…."

"Musta been romantic, like a romance movie."  
Rakka laughed and said, "More like a slasher film. He held a shiv to my throat and demanded information. God, I was scared shitless."

"What happened after that? What led to you two….getting it on?"

"He stayed where I was living for several weeks. He didn't hide that he wanted to have sex with me. He made…vocal offers and hints, but he never….he never acted until I gave the…go ahead and it was purely consensual."

"Why did you say that?"

"Sorry?"

"Why did you say it was purely consensual?" Nikki pointed out. "You said that as if I had thought that he forced you."

"Oh, well….there was so many people that thought that he raped me. Possibly due to his reputation."

"But….you sounded as if….you were trying to convince yourself. I already know his reputation and he's not a rapist…"

"It was consensual." Rakka stepped away from the counter getting little angry. "He didn't hit me, he didn't hold a gun to my head or a shiv to my throat, he didn't hold me down, he didn't force my legs apart and stick his thing in me. I wanted it. And I continued to want it even when I didn't want to."

"Okay, now you just contradicted yourself right there. You wanted him, yet you didn't."

"It got so complicated. He….he was my first and he's my only." Rakka shifted her feet. "I…was so young then and I didn't really know that much about sexual relationships, but it…felt empty."

"Please explain."

"He's…not into foreplay much."

"Ah…he's more into lube you up and stick it in, huh?"

"Sometimes." Rakka licked her lips and said, "But there have been times when…he kissed me, touched me….made me feel so good."

"But other times he makes you feel like shit."

"Yeah."

"What was your life like before you met Riddick?"

Rakka shifted uncomfortably. "That's something that's hard for to talk about. It got snatched away so…quickly and so easily."

"And why is that? Why is it so hard to remember? Or hurtful I should say?"

"It was a time in my life when everything was simple." Rakka replied. "I…I was a good girl back then. I went to school, I obeyed my parents, I didn't do drugs, I drank responsibly, and I dated nice guys. I'm not saying I was perfect or led the perfect life, I did bad things like any other kid would have, but I was better than most. We had better than most and we had good lives, I had a good life. My dad died while I was in college trying to get my Bachelor's degree then my mother got sick. I tried juggling my classes and taking care of her, but…it was too much, so I was going to miss a semester…."

Nikki tilted her head sympathetically. "You never had a chance to go back."

"No. It got taken away. I killed a guy, a guy trying to rape me. I shoved a metal pipe into his gut. This guy's dad….was my home planet's leader."

"Shit!"

"Yeah, I went into hiding, met Riddick, and we went into hiding together. God, it…I've done things, people done things to me, I saw things…..I will never forget. I was constantly worried and scared."

"And Riddick was there with you throughout it?"

"Yes. Though there were a few times when he tried to leave, but he ended right back with me. We were together up until…I left him. I had to leave him for Roland…our first son. We both got arrested and sent to the same Slam."

Nikki looked at her with shocked green eyes. "My god! I know guys that been released from Slams. They…don't seem right in the head and they had horror stories that would make you sleep with a light on."

Rakka smiled weakly. "Believe everything you hear about Slams. More than less likely they're true. It was a horrible place. You…couldn't trust ANYBODY. Can you imagine being one of three women in that prison full of lustful violent men?"

"Only person you could trust was Riddick?"

"I had no choice, he kept them off me. He protected me, but I had….to pay him with sex."

"So he asked for something from you that you were already giving him before you entered the Slam?"

Rakka swallowed and realized she was thirsty. "My throat's dry. Let me get something to drink."

"Here." Nikki offered the whiskey bottle.

Rakka winced, not really wanting whiskey, but accepted it. As she leaned forward to take it, she noticed that Nikki had a hooped ring through her left nipple. She forced her eyes on the whiskey and not look at it. Doesn't it hurt to get your nipple pierced?

Rakka took a sip, but it burned her mouth and throat. When she managed to swallow it left her with a warm feeling. "It bothered me because of his attitude. He got real rough with me. No doubt I needed it. Let's say I grew up a great deal in that Slam and I was pregnant with Roland at the time. I was given a deal. I would be released from the Slam and sent away to a colony outside the Green System, but they would put it down that I died. If I refused to leave, they would abort Roland and sterilize me and let me spend the rest of my life there. I had to leave and for 14 years he thought I was dead."

"But he found you again."

"Yes, and I was married…."

"Married? I thought Riddick was your only…."

"Terry and I had a platonic relationship. There was no sex." Rakka admitted. "Geez, other than Riddick, you are the only person I have ever admitted never having sex with Terry."

"Did you love him? Was he good to you?"

"Yes. He was. We kissed, hugged, but there was never any intercourse. We….I tried a few times….but…I could never go through with it. He died several month ago, due to a disease."

"And when Riddick came back into your life….?"  
"We started right back together as if we were never parted. I got pregnant again and then this is where we are."

Nikki tapped her lips with a finger deep in thought. "Rakka, let me throw some ideas at you. Now you are allowed to stop me or disagree with me at anytime, so feel free to interrupt if I touch on something you are uncomfortable with. And feel free to ask any questions. You may want to sit down."

Rakka nodded and pulled a chair from the table beside Nikki and sat down. She ignored Nikki's nudeness knowing that this was very important.

"Rakka, Riddick is a very attractive man. Shit, I bet he could get nuns to break their vows if he walked shirtless pass a convent. Let's set that aside and let's concentrate on your differences. Rakka, for most of your life you have lived in a controlled environment. You knew where you next meal was coming from, you knew what was going to happen the next day, you knew you were safe, and you knew what was expected of you and what you expected of everyone else. In Riddick's world, it was chaotic. He led a very dangerous life where hell knows what happens next. He takes things as they come. He accepts what he can control and adapts to it and manages to have enough control to survive. He had to fight, steal, and kill to gain anything and to survive while you on the other hand received it through society which he is an enemy of."

Nikki scratched an itch below her eye and asked, "Am I making sense?"

"Yes, you are."

"Okay. After you killed your would be rapist, you were completely thrust into a world that you had no clue of how to survive. Riddick's world. It was a world that he knew how to survive in and you were unwillingly along for the ride. You had no choice, but to cling to him and depend on him for your survival."

Rakka felt her chest solidify with deep revelations. This woman was speaking as if she was there. She did have to depend on Riddick back then….and she still do now.

"He was your guide, guardian, role model, and leader in this hard new life you found yourself forced into. You had no one else and he was the only one there who understood this exotic world. It was natural for you to….find yourself drawn to him. You clung to him in fear of being left behind, abandoned alone in this life you know nothing about. And you still cling to him now in this…mission to find your baby."

"It feels like an addiction."

"Because it's partially is a thrill. Rakka, you know how teenage girls chase after….ill reputable boys. For the thrill of doing something bad. You're sleeping with a convict and I'm quite sure that is frowned down upon in 'decent' society. And he's dangerous which adds that seasoning of fear. Reason why racers in those speeders get a buzz when they go faster than 150 miles per hour. Or why pilot in a cruiser goes top speed through an asteroid field. For that taste of possible death."  
"Could it also be that he's great in bed?" Rakka suggested.

Nikki ignored her small joke and kept going. "Another big part of it could be that he's the most constant factor in your life since your father's death."

"What?" Rakka's eyes widen.

"Hear me out. He's the most reliable, common, and constant person in your life. Your father leaves, mother leaves, and then you have to leave your friends behind and the life you know. No doubt you met people and had to leave them during the duration of your time with him, but has he ALWAYS been there? And did he not in one way or another come back to you?"

Rakka let this all sink in. She never….oh god…..was…there really….something between her and Riddick?

"Nikki, are you a…..sex therapist or a psychologist?" Rakka asked. "I mean….you….really opened my eyes…."  
Nikki grinned and replied, "I'm studying to be one. I'm in my fourth year of college."

Rakka mouth dropped open in shock. "Nikki, you look like you're in high school!"

"My IQ is up in the 300s. I graduated high school when I was 13, then went into this special program for gifted kids."

"But…I don't mean to be rude….but….you…."

"I'm a nasty little slut?" Nikki grinned. "Well, I just really like sex and see no harm is sharing my body with people willing to share theirs. And if I make some cash offa it, then great!"

"But...what about disease? I know that sexually transmitted disease are now easily treated and cured in this day and age, but….still….."

"I get tested monthly. I have a doctor that's cool. And about pregnancy, I got the temporary tube tied thing. Ya know, I go in they fix where I can't get pregnant and when I'm ready to start havin' kids, I go back and they untie them. More reliable than birth control pills. You know out of 100 women who rely on those things, 2 women get pregnant."

Rakka looked away and turned toward the sink.

"Rakka? Rakka? Oh. My. God! You were one of the 2 women! That's how you had Roland! Oh man! What bad luck!"

"I know, I took the damn things religiously, but Riddick still managed to knocked me up." Rakka replied.

"Feeling any different about me?" Nikki asked leaning back in her chair. "I mean from the moment I molested you?"  
"I like you a lot better than I did before." Rakka admitted. "I was ready to slap the hell out of you and toss your ass out the door."

"God, it's late. What the fuck is he doing now?"

"Huh?"

"It been one hour since we sent his ass out, as he hasn't came back from a 10 minute chore." Nikki pushed herself to her feet and said, "I'm bailing."

"What?"

"Tell 'im that Nikki got tired on waitin' on his sorry ass and to meet me at my place tomorrow night. I'll find out some shit then."

"I thought you wanted…Riddick to sleep with you….?"

"I did, but…after our little session….I think it's best I don't add to the drama going on between you two. And lissen, he cares, he really does care and he wasn't trying to compare you to me….he wanted to get you pissed, because he loves fighting with ya." Nikki walked into the bedroom.

Rakka stood numb while the prostitute dressed and came out. Nikki patted her shoulder as she walked by and said, "You give him an orgasm for me, kay?"

Then Nikki, her new friend walked out of the door and locked it behind her.


	47. Can't

It was an hour longer before Riddick came back. In that time, she sat at the table and thought deeply about herself, Riddick, and their emotions. It had NEVER occurred to her that Riddick would be actually scared to be a father to the boys. Uncomfortable, yes, but not scared. It was…..unimaginable for Riddick to be afraid of…..ANYTHING.

What Nikki said made sense though. She had….yes, SHE had thrown him into a whole different….way of life, world, society, or something he had no power over. He was probably more comfortable in a Slam with vicious guards and insane inmates than living in a small house with a loving wife and impressionable kids.

Loving wife? Was she….and he…..oh shit, no! Having sex together, yes, maybe….MAYBE…in her wildest dreams…have dinner together and then sex….but marriage. The thought shocked her deeply and yet….she felt a sense of de ja' vu as if….naw.

The idea of Riddick wearing a suit and walking down the aisle with her wearing a wedding dress and seeing a priest was ludicrous. And for him committing, that was out of the question. She can't imagine him limiting himself to one woman.

But what about her…would she actually go through with a marriage to him….no, she wouldn't. Hell no, she….no, they were physically compatible…at least in his mind they were, but not mentally or emotionally.

God, why was she thinking about marriage? Dammit, she married into an empty one with no passion. She done it for Roland, purely for Roland. Terry had been a good father, better than Riddick could ever be. Patient, calm, gave praise for positive deeds, and was always there to support Roland. Could Riddick be those things?

She went to bed. She slipped out of the sweatshirt and took off the panties. She knew….she KNEW…..that she and Riddick were going to have sex again. The sheets felt cool to her skin and she was relaxed. She knew Riddick would be back, she had no doubt about that.

She dozed off. She didn't dream, it as if she was floating in misty darkness. She also felt stretched, not uncomfortable, but good as if she was stretching out a sore muscle. She was stretching out her emotions and mentality.

Something warm was touching her face. Moist, soft, yet scratchy. It felt good on her face, along her jaw, and then her ear. It sent stings down her neck to her shoulder as it probed the folds of her ear. As she was tugged from the euphoria of sleep she felt weight on her body and she opened her eyes.

Riddick loomed over her, his mouth on her face. She turned onto her back to see twin silver orbs above her. She parted her lips and his met hers. It was as if she was swallowing a warm liquid. Its warmth flushed from her mouth down her throat, and over her chest and belly down between her legs. His tongue stroked hers, then her lips as he lifted his head away. Her hands lifted and stroked up his ribs, to his shoulders blades, and urged him down upon her.

He lowered himself atop her, careful to support himself to keep from crushing her beneath him. She took this time to kiss and lick his throat; she sought the pulse at his neck. He lifted his head putting his pulse out of reach of her questing lips. His large, warm, rough hand covered her throat and lightly pinned her head down to the pillow, keeping her from leaning upward for him.

"Where did Nikki go?" His warm breath blew on her face, tossing thin strands of her hair about her face.

"She left. Got tired of waiting for you. She wants us to meet her at her place tomorrow night." She raised her hands and cupped his cheeks. She felt the hard jaw bones and the stubbly skin beneath. "Where did you go?"

"I don't do errands. Went bar hoppin'."

Rakka instantly wanted to smell his clothes for cigarettes and perfume of any other woman. She tugged at his black shirt, but he made a low growl in his throat. She stopped and looked into his face.

Suddenly her hands were pinned by her head and his mouth was at her throat. She could feel his teeth sinking slightly into her skin. If he wanted to…rip her throat out with his teeth. "Riddick…wha…"

He tightened his hold slightly, and she felt the frighteningly pinch as her air was slightly constricted, but not enough to make her struggle for air. But she did struggled to free her hands, but he tightened his hold on her throat more, his teeth starting to hurt her skin. She whimpered and forced herself to relax…..to submit to him. He released her hold and lifted his head. He licked her lips and said, "Remember, years ago, you said, 'Hurt me,'?"

She nodded, she had wanted to see his dark side, the side that was her then unborn son's father. Riddick nipped her lips almost drawing blood. She yelped and twisted her head away. He nipped her earlobe and then her jaw.

Her arms were curled upward till her hands were pinned above her head. He held them with one hand while the other one reached down toward his pants. She expected to hear him undo his belt. She heard a jingle, but it wasn't his belt being undone. He held up a metallic object above her face for full viewing. A pair of cuffs with ID codes swung slowly above her face. She had the feeling that Riddick may have ran into trouble while he was out and brought back a toy to play with.

He continued to hold them for her eyes and waited. She swallowed a lump in her throat and asked, "You know the code for them?"

"Yeah." He replied.

He waited. It took her a full minute to realize he was waiting for her permission. Bondage…she wondered why she never thought he would be into it. She licked her lips and said, "Is…there a safety word?"

"Jack….remember?" Jack as in the girl he knew from long ago. Fourteen years ago, she thought the name was strange for a sexual safety word….but she knew why now. It was something that would grab his attention in a heartbeat.

"Okay." Whether it was confirming a go ahead or she was confirming the safety word, she didn't know.

He pinned her hands to the pillow and with one hand closed a manacle around one wrist. It looped the other through the bed head pole and closed it around her other wrist. He sat up and leaned away from her. She tugged at the bonds fruitlessly. Her arms were securely ensnared above her head.

Riddick looked down at her with his eyelids lowered. He looked dazed, but there was a violent look upon his face that scared her. His hands pushed the covers off her body and cool air assaulted her bared skin. She shivered and twisted her body. She wanted the sheet back up to cover her.

Riddick's hands cupped her ribs and forced her to be still. One of his hands slid up her midriff, between her breasts, and touched her throat. His other hand disappeared for a second and then a shiv appeared above her eyes. It scared her. Last time he used a shiv during sex was to cut off her clothes, but she wasn't wearing anything now.

She struggled and almost said the safety word Jack. Just wait….he…he wouldn't just kill her….would he? The fear she had held for him years ago on a dark night in a woods on a distant planet came back to haunt her. Nikki said he cared, that he actually cared. She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly to calm her nerves.

He placed the shiv flat on her forehead. The cool metal stroked her skin, tousling any strands of hair that were around her eyes. The blade had been recently sharpened for that several strands floated to the pillow. He ran the flat of the blade down the bride of her nose, down the side of it, and along her cheek. He curved it toward her lips.

She tightened her lips together and it took sheer force of will down not to turn her head away. The blade tip caught the corner of her lip and gave a very gently tug. He traced her lips with the tip. The hand at her throat lightened its hold. She felt his rough thumb stroke her chin. His head lowered and he….kissed her? It was more like a bite than a kiss. His teeth almost cut her lips and scrapped against her teeth. Her lips were crushed between his harsh lips and her teeth. His tongue assaulted hers and his taste overwhelmed her. She tried to wrench her head from his mouth, but the cold blade of the shiv on her cheek kept her still under his assault of her mouth.

Her lips were bruised and there was a thin red line on her cheek where the shiv was pressed too hard against her skin. Her chest heaved as her breath quickened. His thick fingers stroked her forehead and he shifted backwards slightly. He leaned forward his face above her breasts.

His tongue trailed between her breasts and up the curve of her left breast. He lapped at the nipple causing her to take a quick intake of breath. His lips surrounded the hardening pink of her nipple and sucked….

He jerked his head up and gagged. His quick movement jostled her body. She lifted her head to see what would make him react so. She saw a white bead of liquid appear at her teat and roll down her breast. Her breast milk, Jack's milk…..They had forgotten that she was still nursing….they had forgotten about Jack. Her poor little baby out there with God knows who.

"Jack." She whispered.

Riddick looked down at her. He was wiping his mouth and his fingers stayed on his lips as he stared down at her.

"Jack….I want the cuffs off." She whimpered. Oh, God…what were they DOING? They weren't on a honeymoon or a fucking getaway vacation! They were looking for Jack, who should be home, who should be in his crib, who should be suckling at her breast for her milk; her milk was that leaking from her nipple.

Without a word, Riddick undid the cuffs by typing in the code in a small keypad on one of the manacles. She sat up and wriggled her legs from beneath Riddick. She swung them over the edge of the bed and stood. She hurried to the bathroom and vomited in the toilet just in time.

She wiped her mouth with a bit of toilet paper and washed her face in the sink. She tearfully wiped away the leaking milk from her nipple; her baby's milk was wasting. She emerged from the bathroom to see Riddick had stripped off his shirt and was under the covers on his side.

He watched her approach her side of the bed with hard eyes.

"I'm sorry." She sat on the bed facing away from him. "I…we should have remembered that I'm… still nursing….."

"Rakka, if ya want me to….I can get ya a breast pump…"

"No, I don't…want to waste it. It's Jack's milk. He'll need it." She swallowed a hard lump in her throat.

"I'll get a storage freezer and you can save it for him."

"Thank you."

"Get over here, you fuckin' owe me."

He thick arm snaked around her waist and tugged her back to him. Hard, warm flesh met her back and shoulder blades and she tried to push away the arms around her. His other hand came around and he caught both her hands in both of his and held them to her chest. His tongue licked her shoulder.

"I….whine a lot don't I?"

"Yeah." He nuzzled her neck and she felt her earlobe being tugged between his teeth.

"I'm sorry…I try to be strong, but it hurts and gets so heavy….I'm scared for Jack." She fought back the tears that threatened to come. "Do you think he's alright?"

"They paid 50,000 UDs for him." He replied into her ear.

She wrench around nearly breaking her wrists when he tightened his hold on her hands to keep her still. She looked up into his eyes with tears in hers. "What the fuck does mean? Are they taking care of him? Are they feeding him a good formula? Are they…letting ANOTHER woman nurse him? Are they putting him on his back to sleep and not on his stomach so he won't die of SIDS? Is he crying? Are they going to him when he cries? Or are they just letting him cry thinking that his mommy doesn't love him? Is he hurt? Is he scared? Is he cold? Is he hungry? I'm his fucking mother and I DON'T KNOW THOSE THINGS!"  
Rakka broke down and sobbed against him. Her face was buried into his shoulder and hers arms loosely around him. Riddick tried to lean away from her, but she held on. He took her arms and pushed her away from him. He looked down into her eyes and said, "I don't know, Rakka."

"You do know." She whispered. "You're Richard B. Riddick, you're supposed to know things people don't, do things people can't do."

"Sweetheart, if it were drugs, arms, even slaves they were dealing, I'd know, but babies….fuck if I know." Riddick reclined against the bed board and stared at her.

"I want your honest opinion." Rakka said. She was sitting on her knees on the bed naked. Him shirtless….no, naked, now that the sheet was showing off a bare bronzed hip and the sheet clung seductively to his bare legs, It looked like a set of a porn vid, but their topic was too serious for horny fun.

"My honest opinion?" He asked eyeing her.

"Yes."

"You don't want to hear it."

"Yes, I do."

"Alright, but don't cuss me." He shifted his weight and said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're takin' care of him. He's their….cattle. You feed and water a cow ya wanna sell, take care of it till the buyer come, then to hell with whatever they wanna do with it as long as you get the money. That's the same way with Jack."

Rakka inhaled quickly through her nose.

"They'll sell him to whoever is willing to pay the most. Maybe a rich couple with no kid that wants one. That would be best for him. Ya got some monsters out there. A rich pedophile into babies, or a scientist wanna do some human experimentations, or slavers wanna train a slave from scratch. What we gotta hope for is that he's still on the planet. If he isn't, and they already sold him, then. . . we might not ever be able to find him unless we can force them to tell us who the buyer is."

Rakka felt her fear eat her soul. Not chew, eat her heart, lungs, chest, throat, ears, and chin. That cold shocking, numbing terror that made her wanted to scream.

"Riddick….are you mad at me?" She looked down at her hands in her lap.

"What?"

"Are you mad at me?" She curled her legs forward and sat cross-legged. "I forced you into this."

"Nobody can force me into anything."

"But I DID!" She touched her shoulder. "I had Roland, I had Jack, and it's because of my stupidity that Jack was kidnapped and you're here helping me!"

"I helped you get into this shit. I fucked ya fourteen years ago and I fucked ya nine months ago. I knocked ya up twice."

"I left you….I wanted to stay with you…."

"Rakka, you don't know what yer sayin'. You got stronger in Red Hades, I'll give you that, but it would have eaten you up inside….make you like me….and I wouldn't be able to protect you from that."

"Like you couldn't protect the first Jack?" Rakka asked.

"Rakka, I've thought a lot in the past months. More than I ever did in my life. I'm leaving. I'll get Jack back for you, I'll get you back to Yari, but after that…I'm goin'."

"What?" Rakka gasped.

"I'm goin'. I'm goin' back to the Necros, me and Adrian."

"No, you…can't leave…."

"People are better off not being around me. You, Roland, and the baby. I'm not good, Rakka. Good in bed maybe, but not in life…"

"Don't joke about that!" Rakka snapped. "Riddick, you can't leave Roland! He's needs to get to know you!"

He turned his hard gaze on her. "Years ago I had a conversation with someone who had a similar problem to mine. He had a daughter with his wife, but he had to leave the family due to family problems. He watched her grow up with another father and get married. He said the reason why he doesn't try to be apart of her life is because….she done so well without him, who was he to barge in on her life?"

"Riddick, you are not barging in on ANYTHING….Roland….he's sore about the…whole…thing between us…"

"He feels betrayed…fuck, we did betray him…"  
"No, we…"

"Dammit, Rakka, look at it from his point of view." He seized her arm and yanked her forward. She pressed a hand against his chest to keep from behind dragged onto him. He glared straight into her eyes. "Mommy screwed another man. Mommy brings home another man when Daddy is dead. Mommy is kissing another man. Mommy is gonna be seeing another man. You betrayed him!"

"No, I didn't!" She snapped. "I didn't mean to…I would never do anything to hurt him…."

Her mind lashed back to the last time she saw Roland. They had yelled at each other, fought, and she brushed him aside as if he was an annoyance and not her first born. He even shaved his head….just like Riddick's…..whether to please her, enrage her, or to gain her attention, she didn't know.

"Riddick, I have to speak with him."

"When we get back to Yari"

"No, now!"

"You can't."

"Yes, I can. You can make the arrangements!"

"No, I won't."

"Why not?" She gritted her teeth.

"I don't want us traced!" Riddick hissed. "Why do ya think I didn't want anyone to know where we're going? I don't want the corporation to know that one of their merchandise's parents is lookin' for him. If they even fuckin' suspect, they will kill him to protect themselves. Planet wide calls do cost money, but you got to go through all this security shit. You gotta give 'em yer name, address, social security number, and all the shit. No doubt they get an alert when a recorded name of one of the off planet parents is sounded in a computer somewhere. They see yer name, then Jack is dead. Understand!"

"Yes…" Rakka replied. "I have to hurt one son to save the other's life, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Will we be able to find Jack tomorrow?"

"You mean today?" Riddick inclined his head to the bed side clock. "It's 12:20."

"Will we find Jack tomorrow?"

Riddick closed his eyes and swallowed. "Maybe….BIG maybe. According to what sort of info Nikki will have tomorrow night."

"Riddick, I don't want you to leave."

"You want me to stay?"

She swallowed. "Yes."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I already told you why."

"But…"

Riddick sat up and stared into her face. "Lissen, I screwed things up between you and Roland. That's something yer gonna hafta fix with him. And Jack is better off without me. Roland is was better off without me and so can Jack."

"Roland had Terry to be his father! Jack will not have a father!"

"Then find him one!"

Rakka stared at Riddick. "You want me to….find someone else?"

"Yes." Riddick said. "Find someone who will be a good father to them both. Me, I can't. I don't have it in me, I don't know how to…"

"You can learn!"

"I can't! I'm….bad. Rakka…" He grabbed her shoulders and hauled her forward to him. She almost sat in his lap her face inches from his. "Rakka, I kill people. More than I can remember. I've killed since I was eight fuckin' years old. I shot my foster father because he got sick in the head and thought I was some threat. Since then I've been fucked in the head. I was a bad kid. Don't let anyone tell you that there is no such then as a bad boy, because I would have proven them wrong. By the time I was twelve I've done it all. You name it, I did it. Arson, theft, vandalism, assault, breaking and entering, drugs, harassment, and I already covered murder when I was eight. I spent most of my childhood in juvenile detention where I had to fight off any bigger assholes who thought they could bleed me for the hell of it."

"Riddick, oh God…."

"I freakin' ruled that goddamn camp. Nobody even blinked an eye unless I say they could do so. The officers got so tired of my ass they made some deals somewhere and had me sent into the military for hard training as a special case. That's where I learned how to fight and pilot. It was even where I picked up my knifing skills. That was where I became a killer. I killed people as easily as you can breathe. It was something I just did like eating, sleeping, and taking a piss. I was with the military till I was 18….Rakka, I spent my teen years killing people for the army. Then I became a sweeper for this organization that liked my skills for a few years. They were doing some illegal shit and when I blew the whistled they framed me for an illegal killing of some shit. I was arrested and thrown into my first slam. And I guess you know the rest from there."

He released her and she sat back from him. "Riddick, I…had no…"

"If you say you had no idea, then I'm gonna get pissed off." He growled at her. "What? You think I was born with a shiv in my hand and my killer instinct? Maybe I was born with some of it, but most of it I learned the hard way. Rakka, you gave Roland something I NEVER had: a happy childhood and I want you to make his teen years something he would want to remember. I ain't stupid, I know teen years are the hardest part of your life, but fuck, make sure most of it's good."

He tossed his head back, nearly banging it against the head board and laughed. "God, universe, or what-fuckin'-ever must be getting a laugh out this shit. Someone like me, meeting a princess and knocking her up and having TWO kids is got to be a joke."

_Princess?_

"Riddick, I think you turned out better than your history lets on." Rakka replied softly.

"Have I? Have I really?" Riddick stared at her and she felt her blood chill as his eyes changed. They hardened, and glowed. He stared through her, not through her, but around her. It was as if he was wondering how much she would bleed before she died and how high pitch her screams would be. She now knew what a gazelle felt each time it stared into the eyes of the lion as it about to rip its throat out. "Rakka, I can kill you. I know so many ways I can do it. I can snap your neck; I can strangle you with my hands or wrap a sheet around your throat. If I wanted to be messy I could beat you to death with my bare hands or beat your head against the back board here." He tapped it with a knuckle startling her. "But my favorite way would be…." A shiv appeared out of no where in his hand. "….to slit your throat."

Rakka started away, but he snagged her upper arm and yanked her forward. He seemed to loom over her and in the darkness his eyes glow, sending shockwaves of terror into her system. He began talking and his voice rubbed her skin like fur and ice. "Rakka, I can SMELL your fear. I can hear your fuckin' heart jes poundin'. The scary thing is, that if you ever shot at me or attacked me with a knife, I would have no qualms about killin' you. I wouldn't hesitate, I wouldn't think twice before taking this shiv and shoving straight into your heart. Unlike you when you cut off the dear Dr. Turner's finger…"

"Riddick…that…"

"Rakka, you were as scared as she was, but you went through with it. Only because she brought harm to yer baby. I ain't sayin' you didn't have the right to do it. You did and you did have the right to do even more to her. But you hesitated, sweated it out, thought twice before you went through with it, and I bet you're gonna have trouble sleeping about it. Me? I can kill all the people in this hotel and not loose a second's sleep over it."

Rakka inhaled his scent and could almost smell the thousands of galleons of blood he had shed. Riddick released her and said, "Do you honestly…HONESTLY….want someone like me to help you raise Jack? DO you want these blood soak hands to hold your baby?" He cupped the back of her head and gently leaned into her face. "Rakka, I can't teach them about life. What do I know about it? I've NEVER lived it only survived it. If they need to learn how to fight, I'll teach them. If they need to learn how to craft shivs and how to use them, I'll teach them. If they need to learn how to kill, I'll teach them. But I CAN'T teach them so many things like how to be….men….not a monster like me."


	48. Discu

After he released her, she stared at him with sad eyes. The very same sad eyes that Jack had when he left her. Except these eyes were different. Jack's were full of want, but Rakka's were full of need.

"I really hope that you reconsider your decision." Rakka whispered.

"Bitch, you don't…"

"Riddick, let me talk. I listened to you, now listen to me!" Rakka snapped. "I'm sorry that you had such a hard life, but I believe…no, I KNOW that you would have a good influence on the kids. I understand that I did betray Roland, but that's something we'll work out through with time and talking with him. Because of your hardships you can make them appreciate the good parts of life and understand them when they have to go through the bad parts."

What the hell was the difference between wanting and needing?

He lay back against the back board and stared forward ready for whatever Rakka may say more. She stretched out beside him. She rested her head on his chest and laid an arm across his stomach. He tensed, disliking the restriction, though it was fragile, across his torso.

He found his hand trailing up her spine to the back of her neck. His fingers lightly prodded the bones of her neck through her hair. He could so easily break her neck with one hand.

"I'm glad you came back into my life, Riddick." She said against his skin. "I….thought a lot about you over the years. At first, I tried to forget you, because….I thought I would never see you again. I kept thinking about how you would feel about something, or what you would do or say in situations. It's…because of you that I'm able to look for Jack. If you hadn't had come….then I would still be in that hospital crying my life away."

Her other hand, which had been laying limp across his chest, slid up his shoulder, arm, and then laced her fingers with his making him drop the shiv on the mattress near his hip.

It was all he needed.

His hand slipped from the nape of her neck down to her crotch. His hand brushed between her stomach and the sheet covering his legs. His fingers curved between her thighs and she gasped as his rough fingers found her clitoris.

He pulled her closer by her hand laced within his. She was pulled onto his chest, her face close to his. He traced her upper lip with his tongue, before drawing it between his lips. She tugged his bottom lip with her teeth while he lipped her upper one. His talented fingers stroked her clit making her undulate her hips against his hand.

He tested her wetness with his middle finger before slipping it inside. Rakka made a small soft sound against his mouth and her arms curled around his neck pulling her closer. Her thigh pressed exquisitely against his penis.

Fuck it, he wanted her now. She wouldn't do it his way then he wasn't going to do it her way.

He removed his finger from her and released her hand. He grabbed her thigh and pulled her over till she was straddling his hips. She looked up into his face, her blue-violet eyes meeting his silver orbs. She began to pull herself up to kiss him again, but he grasped her hips and pushed her down onto him.

Her eyes widen with surprise as he filled her and rolled their bodies over so that he was atop her. His elbows support his weight on either side of her head. He felt her arms curled about his shoulders, her head tilting back as if offering her throat. He took this time to nip it, giving her a reminder that he could become violent with her at anytime. Giving her a dark reminder that if he so chose, her life could end right then and there.

He remembered the cryo dream. He remembered seeing her bound in chains, chains that he was told Rakka would self impose upon her. He challenged it, tested it even like he always did with authority with the cuffs. He wanted her reactions; see if she would back out. Maybe the woman was into a little pain as him.

He climaxed seconds after she did. He remained inside her letting the pleasant euphoria of dominance and sex settle. He listened to her pant beneath him and felt her breasts heaving against his chest.

He rolled off her and got smoothly from the bed. Rakka lay on her back and watch him move around the bed and entered the joining bathroom. He took five minutes to soap up and rinse off under warm water. He toweled off and entered the bedroom to grab his clothes off the chair he had set them earlier.

"You're going out? Again?" Rakka sat up, blinking her eyes as if she had almost fallen asleep while he bathed. She pulled the sheet up to her chest. As if he hadn't already seen her in the nude before.

"Yeah."

"Why? You just came back to screw me once?"

He glanced over his shoulder as he slipped into his pants. "Want another go?"

Rakka looked down at her lap and said, "If you're going out to look for Jack, then I don't want to stop you, but if you're going out to….prowl or whatever the hell you do…..then….."

He supposed one could call it prowling. He never remained in one place for very long. Maybe it was due to his hectic childhood of hopping from foster home to foster home. Fuck, now that he thought about it, whenever he arrived at a slam the first damn thing he did was go out to 'prowl' around for an escape route.

"….I want you to stay, but not for sex." Rakka muttered.

Riddick turned and stared at her. "Then what the fuck do you need me for?"

"I…just want you with me." Rakka said. "We don't have to have sex all the time. I…I just want you here."

"For what?" Riddick insisted.

"Dammit! You know….I don't want to be alone! What's wrong with just sleeping in the same bed? We did it once…no twice!"

"Who said I slept?" Riddick stepped near the bed staring down at the nude woman.

"Riddick, you have to sleep SOMETIME." Rakka retorted. "People die without sleep."

"I do sleep, not as much as you." Riddick arched an eyebrow. "Why don't you tell me what you're afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid." Rakka snapped, but then looked away. "Fine. I'm afraid of never finding Jack and I'm afraid of you never coming back."

"Thinkin' I'm gonna take off and leave you on yer on in this ghetto?"  
"No." Rakka replied. "I…geez…never mind. Your little speech of going away gave me the fucking creeps. I just want you near, okay? It's…my hormones rearranging themselves or whatever."

"That hormone excuse won't work forever, bitch." Riddick pulled on his shirt and plucked his goggles off the bedstead.

"Bastard." Rakka returned as she turned away from him and curled up into the covers. He glanced at her small figure on the bed and exited the bedroom.

Rakka listened to him leave the apartment. No, no, she was not going to cry. God, what was wrong with her?

Riddick leaving her and the kids…..she felt empty at the thought. Deep down she had hoped….prayed that he would stay. Why? Why for her kids, of course. Roland still needed a father figure and Jack should grow up with a father….when they find him.

Rakka shut her eyes tightly to try to block out the possibilities of what could be happening to her baby at that moment. She whispered a small prayer that he was somewhere safe and being cared for.

* * *

She woke up at 8:00 in the morning. She sat up in bed and rubbed the sleepiness from her face. She looked around the room, but there was no sign that Riddick had returned from his outing. She perked her ears when she noticed the faint noises from the living room. Sounded like the vid.

She swung her legs over the bed and padded naked to the bathroom. She showered and toweled off in front of the mirror. She stared at her enlarged breasts. After she had Roland, she went through a short chubby stage and her swollen breasts weren't at all flattering. But now, after loosing all that weight in the hospital….she looked like a porn star with breast implants. She'll wear something around herself, like a large overcoat or shawl to take attention away from them.

She threw on the sweatshirt she wore last night and a pair of jeans. She brushed out her wet hair and let it hang down her back. She exited the bedroom and saw Riddick reclining on the moth eaten couch watching the news.

"When did you get back?" She asked as she headed to the kitchen.

"When I walked through the door." Riddick replied not taking his goggled eyes off the screen.

Rakka decided it was not worth it to retort. "Did you bring back anything to eat?"

"Yer in the kitchen. Look for yourself."

"Fuck you!" She snapped.

"You did last night."

There was no winning with him. She opened the fridge and sure enough it was stocked with a bottle of brandy, various fruits native to this planet, and various beverages. She selected a fruit that resembled an apple, but it was orange. She bite into it and was surprised that it tasted like a banana. She shut the fridge and noticed the stack of paper cups on the counter.

"I wouldn't." Riddick called from the couch.

She was about to pour a cup of water from the kitchen sink. "Why not?"

"Look and see."

She glared at the back of his shaven head and turned the water tap. She gasped as the water that poured from the facet was an ugly reddish color. "They don't have clean water on this planet?"

"They do…for people willin' to pay for it."

She set the cup aside and went back to the fridge. She selected a small container of juice and sat on one of the stools at the counter. "Did you hear anything last night…on the baby ring?"

"I wasn't lookin'." He replied eyes still on the vid.

"Well, I thought after all the scary things you told me last night of what could be happening to him, you would at least look around a little bit." She muttered.

Riddick turned in his seat and looked at her. "Lemme ask you this. If I walked up to you and asked you who was sellin' babies, what the hell would you think? You'd think I was a baby raping sonovbitch."

"Okay, I'm sorry." She surrendered. "I don't think I can wait till tonight."

"Too bad. Nikki said to head to her place tonight and look at the time. 8:20."

"I know that." Rakka replied. "What do we do till then?"

"I have a few suggestions…" Riddick's meaning fully clear as his eyes trailed over her.

"I guess it's pointless if I say no, because you usually get your way in the end." Rakka muttered. "May I finish eating?"

"Take your time."

She munched silently on her breakfast and sipped her juice. She noticed the front of her sweatshirt was getting a wet blot wear her right nipple was. "Did you get that breast pump?"

"Look on the other counter." He replied.

She turned her head and sure enough there was a box with a picture of a breast pump and containers beside it. "I'm going to…pump my milk out first, okay?"

"I prefer your breasts the way they are now." Riddick replied looking over his shoulder at the large mounds that protruded through her sweatshirt.

"My body, my choice." She replied as she finished up her breakfast. She threw away the empty can and headed to the bathroom.

She took it out and read the directions carefully. She took it the bedroom and twenty minutes later she had collected enough milk to fill four containers. She walked out with the containers and placed them in the fridge. "Okay, I'm ready."

The lights went off overhead and the only light was the fridge's glow. She was frightened for a second believing it was a power outage, but then she realized that Riddick liked sex in the dark. It was just like it was in the Slam during lights out, nothing but darkness. She stepped away from the fridge carefully so as not to trip over anything. She was still not familiar with the apartment yet to know how many steps it is from the fridge to the stools.

Suddenly a rough hand grasped her shoulder and shoved her against the fridge. She was pressed so tightly against it; she was forced to turn her head to the side, her cheek pressed almost painfully against the cold metal. Her wrists were hauled behind her and she felt cold metal clasp around her wrists. The cuffs, Riddick was playing his game again. She wasn't sure whether to be thrilled or frightened. Maybe both.

"Am I allowed the safety word? Jack, right?" She whispered. A warm tongue ran up her cheek and curled into her ear. She closed her eyes as tingles of warmth bled down her chest and the warmth increase at her crotch.  
"Don't talk." The rough reply vibrated from her ear and throughout her body.

A thick arm pinioned her back, pressing her into the fridge. Her jeans were roughly unbutton and unzip, and then yanked down to her knees. Her underwear soon followed them down to her ankles. Calloused hand curved around her hip and rough fingers tease her clitoris. She moaned into the cold metal of the fridge, her bounded hands clenching into tight fists. She found she was standing up on the balls of her feet as she grinded her hips into his hand.

Rolling waves of ecstasy washed through her belly building the heat that seemed to climb up to her chest. She groaned with frustration when he slipped his hand away and she backed up into his hard body.

He yanked her backwards with him. She stumbled not being able to see in the darkness, almost tripping and almost getting her toes stepped on by his boots. She was lifted bodily by the shoulders and was placed on her back onto a hard cold surface. The counter where she had eaten her breakfast not too long ago and spoke with Riddick in the connecting living room; it was narrow and her head and shoulders hung off the edge while her legs hung off the other edge.

Her cuffed hands were squished beneath her and she shifted to get comfortable. Her jeans and panties shook free from her ankles and fell to the floor in a soft clump. Her sweatshirt was seized and was ripped open baring her breasts to the cool darkness.

Soft lips and sharp teeth attacked her right nipple. She was glad that she pumped her milk out beforehand. Her nipple was still a little sore after using the pump, but the pain….was bittersweet. It spread from her breast to her shoulder and down her arm.

His other hand cupped her other breasts and roughly groped it. She yelped when he twisted it, making her lean upward. His mouth suddenly crushed into hers shoving her back onto the table. Her back hurt as it was banged into the sharp edge of the counter as she was shoved backwards.

She tried to twist her face away, but her head was cupped in a large hand and she was pushed upwards into his mouth. It was as if he was trying to devour her starting with her face.

_Stop it, you're being too rough… _No, she wanted this. She even asked for this years ago. This was the beast he kept inside, that she wanted to taste. If she truly wanted him to stay, then…she would need to see all of him in order to accept him.

He finally lifted his mouth from hers and she stretched her sore lips. She could almost taste blood. His tongue trailed from her throat to the valley between her breasts. His mouth trailed up the curve of her bruised breast and he suck on her nipple, his hands lifting her up.

He lifted his face and she felt warm breathe on hers. One hand supported her back while the other ripped off the remains of the sweatshirt and she was completely naked. She was hefted against him and she found herself being held like a child; with one arm beneath her ass and the other holding her upright. She reflexively wrapped her legs around his waist.

Then suddenly, she was boosted upward. She yelped as she found herself bodily curved over his shoulder, a rough hand clasped on her thigh, keeping her in place. Her face bumped into his back as he walked to God knows where.

"Light off." His voice startled her. She tried to look to see the lights go off, but she only managed to smash her nose into his spine. Lights off? Okay, she left the lights dim in the bedroom so she could see where she was going when she went back.

She was flipped off his shoulder so fast it made her dizzy. She landed on the mattress where she bounced a few times, which didn't help overcome her lightheadedness.

Her body was flipped onto her stomach and a thick arm snaked around her hips and lifted her lower body upward. With her hands cuffed behind her and the position Riddick was placing her in, she wasn't able to lift her head or shoulders upward at all; she was completely at his mercy.

She supported her upper body with her knees while she heard the jingle of Riddick undoing his belt. She pressed her face into the covers, she wished she had made the bed before…

She yelped as he entered her hard and roughly. She gritted her teeth as he hit her cervix, sending shocks up discomfort and pain through her stomach. He withdrew and shoved forward roughly, his fingers crawled down her hips to tightly grasp her sides. She was shoved forward as he withdrew and yanked backward as he thrust forward. Once, twice, and again, and again.

She gritted her teeth at the pain, but felt the ecstasy began to well up within. She could hear his concentrated growls above her as he leaned forward over her. She loved this…she loved being his and him possessing her. That was the thrill of having sex with him, that was the addiction, the fix she received each and every time they coupled. What was missing…was that she wanted him to be hers in some way. In some sad and selfish way, she owned him through the children, Roland and Jack….she wanted more…she wanted him to want her to own him as she wanted him to own her. God, it was confusing, just need to stop thinking and enjoy what he was doing to her body.

The heat began to combust within her and she climax, her scream of ecstasy into the sheets as her body quivered as the orgasm racked every nerve in her body. She inhaled and exhaled through her nose and allowed Riddick to use her body till he reached his climax. He had to the only man she heard of that could last longer than a woman…or maybe she was reaching her climax too soon….

She moaned as he forced forward spilling his seed deep inside her. She listened to him pant above her, feeling him softening inside her, and then he withdrew from her body. Warm sticky liquid roll down the inside of her thigh as a thick arm slid beneath her chest and carry her forward. She stretched out onto the bed and a large body curled beside her. Her hands were suddenly released and she realized that they had gone numb. She forced her fingers to curl and uncurl to force feeling back into them.

An arm curled around her and she was held against him. She laid still and listened. His breathing began to deepen and relaxed against her back and slowly a revelation dawned on her. Riddick was…SLEEPING holding her like a teddy bear. She laid perfectly still afraid of suddenly waking him up and getting her neck broken if he thought she was an attacker.

Her body was sore from his rough handling, but it would heal. She closed her eyes and shifted only slightly to get comfortable and followed Riddick into sleep.

* * *

She woke up to find that Riddick was gone and she was covered with a clean sheet. She sat up and rubbed her wrists. They were red and looked bruised where she had strained against the cuffs earlier.

She scooted off the bed and winced when the mixture of her cum and Riddick's leaked from her and onto the sheets. These sheets would need to be washed if she and Riddick were going to spend the night here again. She went to the bathroom and wiped herself clean with toilet paper. She ran cold water over her abused wrists and planned on wearing a shirt with sleeves long enough to hide the telltale marks. She showered and noticed the other bruises on her body.

There were marks around her breasts, along her sides and hips. She stepped out, ignoring the water dripping on the floor and checked her back. Yep, there was a long bruise beneath her shoulders where she hit the edge of the table. She shouldn't have too much rough sex with Riddick, that's for sure. At least, until these bruises healed.

She finished her shower, toweled, and got dressed. She checked the clock; it was 1:00 in the afternoon. Damn, too far off to visit Nikki yet. She wondered where Riddick was.

She chose a thin long sleeve turtle neck which sleeves came down to almost cover her hands, only her fingers exposed. She wrapped a towel around her hips into a skirt and entered the living room. Sure enough, Riddick was no where to be seen and she found her forgotten jeans and panties in a wad on the floor where they had been discard during the rough handling.

She discarded the towel and slipped into the panties and jeans. She spent the next hour pumping more milk and storing it, and then she tried watching the vid for some sitcoms, anything to cheer her mood.

Her body began to ache and she searched the cabinets for any pain killers that Riddick may have brought back. There was none and she didn't think to bring any with her when she left home.

Roland. God, she was so worried about him. She knew she was worried about Jack at the time, but still…she should have taken time to sit down with Roland and talked with him. Made him understand why she had to go, not brush him off like an annoyance. When she got back, she'll do everything to make it up to him.

It was late when Riddick returned. Almost 10:00 at night. She had watched the vid and the clock, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, washed the sheets from the bedroom, packed her suitcase just in case they weren't able to spend another night in the apartment, and taken another shower when she sweated while cleaning.

Riddick opened the door so suddenly, she yelped with fright from the couch. She had been watching the news vid hoping she would see Riddick's picture flash on the screen as a wanted man.

"Ya got five minutes to grab your shit. We're goin'." He ordered from the open door.

She had been prepared incase they needed to leave in a hurry. Without saying a word, she grabbed a thick coat she had hung over the couch and yanked it on. She stuffed her feet into a pair of shoes waiting near the vid set. Her suitcase was by the door and she picked it up as she headed toward Riddick.

"Time to go to Nikki's?"

"Yeah." Riddick replied. "Yer gonna spend tonight there."

"What about you?" She asked she shut the door behind her.

"Dependin' on what Nikki got to say." Riddick replied as he headed down the hallway. She followed carrying the suitcase so it didn't dragged on the floor. He led her outside the apartment building.

There was a parked hover waiting in the empty parking lot and she was surprised to see Riddick heading toward it. "Did you rent a hover?"

"Yeah, you can say that." He replied as he unlocked the doors with a signal beacon.

She didn't want to know the answer, so she didn't ask the question. She got into the passenger side and kept her suitcase on her lap. Riddick powered up the hover and guided it out of the parking lot. He turned it onto the road and headed eastward.

"Where does Nikki live?"

"Downtown. She wanted us to meet her at her workplace. I didn't tell ya, but she's part owner of a brothel."

"You want me to spend the night in a whore house?" Previous scenes of what happened 14 years ago spun through her head. Pimps, a girl getting her limbs sawed off, a big man with gold chains around his neck, and being _sold. _

Riddick looked at her and grinned. "I ain't sellin' ya…this time. Nikki don't work like those pimps on Haven. All her girls are there cuz they wanna be there and Nikki's rule is that any of her hoes gotta be into what the client is into. So's everybody's comfortable there."

Rakka looked at him skeptically. "I don't…"

"Lissen, you are going to be there as a fuckin' guest. Not as an employee. Don't trust Nikki?"

"I….want to trust her…" Rakka said and licked her lips. "It's so hard…almost everyone I trusted has either tried to use me or hurt me."

"Look, I trust her…at least lookin' after you for a night. I made fuckin' sure that she knows that if she tries ANYTHING I don't like with you, then she and I are gonna have issues."

Rakka looked at him. "You told her that?"

Riddick stared ahead through the windshield and said, "I made sure she knew it."

"What did she say?"

"Laughed and asked how was the orgasm you gave me after she left."

"What did you say?"

"I said, 'what orgasm?'" He turned his head and looked at her; gauging her reaction.

She felt her face began to blush, and she felt anger flare up. She looked away and stared out the window. She knew Riddick was trying to get her angry, but dammit if he doesn't succeed at what he sets out to do.

"Sorry if it wasn't good for you." She said in a gritty tone. "Maybe next time I'll wear leather and be hogged tied to the bed with a ball-in-gag in my mouth and you can skin my ass raw with a horse whip."

Riddick looked at her and said, "Is that…an offer?"

Rakka turned and stared at him with wide eyes. "NO!"  
Riddick chuckled and said, "You like it rough, but not painful."

Rakka thought for a second and nodded. "I like…rough like last time…sometimes, not often. You leave bruises. I'll look like a battered girlfriend if we do that too often."

"Girlfriend?"

"You know what I mean!"

Riddick turned right at a red light and soon they were in a part of the city where there were constantly flashing lights. Bars, strip shops, shows, and other various entertainment buildings began to line the streets. And the people who walked them became more noticeable. Hookers wearing leather, transparent shirts, scanty outfits, and other things that Rakka couldn't recognize leaned against street lamps and walls while men AND women looked at them and shopped as if they were shoes in a store. People wore expensive clothes and women wore extravagant jewelry. Rakka tried not to, but she suddenly felt very, very under dress.

Soon Riddick slowed the hover near a large building with a huge sign flashing in blood red. It had the words SWEET ECTASY with a pair of seductive lips between the words. Riddick had to hunt for a parking spot within the packed parking lot. He managed to squeeze the hover between two shiny hovers that both looked brand new.

He got out and she followed. She was careful to not to bang her door on the other hovers while she dragged her suitcase out of the back. Riddick waited impatiently while she shut her door and slung an arm around her shoulders, marking his territory to any man OR woman that would try to put a move on her.

She was guided to the front door where Riddick shove the door open and took her inside. It was cool inside, but she felt her face flush at what she saw. It resembled a lounge, but it was nothing of the sort. There was center stage where near naked women were dancing erotically. Men and women sat about in lounge seats drinking wine served by almost naked women and others were getting lap dances. There was a bar where a beautiful woman wearing a long red glittering dress with waist length red hair was serving drinks.

Rakka looked down at the floor, but nearly tripped when Riddick took her arm and led her toward a curving staircase. He was paused by a large black man wearing a tux.

"Sorry, Nikki sez I gotta tell ya she wants to meet you privately in her office. The woman goes up herself to room 315."

Rakka looked at Riddick, hoping he'll disagree, but to her horror he nodded, "Fine. But I'm gonna give you the same warnin' I gave Nikki. Anything happens to this woman, then you and I are gonna have heavy issues."

The big man shrugged and stepped aside to allow Rakka to pass. She turned to Riddick and shook her head, "Riddick, I want you to come up with me."

"Can't. Gotta talk to Nikki. You'll be fine." He touched her hip as if comforting her, but she felt him stuff her shiv into her pants. It didn't make her feel better at all.

The woman from the bar appeared at the black man's side. "I'll take her. Nikki told me to take her upstairs when you got here."

Rakka studied her. Her long red dress covered her lot more than what the other women were wearing, but it left little to the imagination. The dress was strapless and it had a very low v-cut neckline showing off the woman's full cleavage. She had startlingly emerald green eyes and a very pale complexion. Her makeup was very elegantly done, giving her light pink blush, light green eye shadow, and very red lipstick. Her dress had a slit up the skirt showing off a pale slender leg. She wore spiked 6 inch high heel red shoes and from the glimpse of the pale leg, she was wearing black garters. Rakka cannot help, but feel that this woman looked familiar.

"Name's Midge." She said smiling offering her hand toward Rakka. "You're as good looking as Nikki said you were."

Rakka shook her hand and noticed that Midge had long fingernails painted red to match her dress and hair. "My name is….Carolyn…Fry."

"No, it's Rakka Laotaner. Nikki told me." Midge grinned showing off perfectly straight white teeth. "Don't need to be afraid here. We are all on your side."

Rakka forced herself to smile and say, "Thank you."

She turned to see what Riddick's reaction would be to this new stranger, but he was gone. She looked around frantically and felt a touch on her shoulder. She gasped startled and heard Midge laugh into her ear.

"You really are jumpy, just like Nikki said." Midge grinned. "And you're not a virgin?"

Rakka gritted her teeth. "I…that's not really…any of your business."

"My, you really are uptight about sex." Midge examined taking a step back and touching her chin as if she was a scientist studying an interesting specimen. "That big guy treating you right?"

Rakka lips parted as if she was going to answer, but she said nothing. She didn't know what to say or how to reply. Midge laughed again and said, "Don't worry about it. Let me take ya upstairs where you'll be spending the night."

Before Rakka could do or say anything, Midge lean forward and took her suitcase from her hand. She turned and started up the stairs. Rakka stood there for a few seconds with uncertainty, but she had no choice but to follow her.

The stairs led up to a long hallway with rooms on either side. The carpet was red and matched the red doors that lined the hall.

"Don't worry about any noise. We made sure that each room is soundproof to make sure that customer's…experiences…don't disturb each other." Midge said over her shoulder.

Rakka noticed that her dress was backless and couldn't help but stare at the flawless white skin and trim line of spine that trailed down Midge's back. She could almost see the beginning of Midge's buttocks at the low, low dip of the back of the dress. How the hell does this woman's dress stay on? How does the dress NOT fall off?

At the end of the hall was an elevator which Midge entered. She stepped inside with the strange woman. Midge set the elevator to go to the third floor and stepped back. Rakka could feel her green eyes examining her. Geez, maybe she should have worn a sweatshirt over the turtle neck.

Rakka still couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen this woman before. She rotated images through her mind, of movies, shows, ads, people she knew and so on where she had seen this woman before. Yet, nothing came to mind…until….

It was years ago when Alia had found porn discs in Erik's room and she had thrown a FIT. Her screams could be heard through out the House. Rakka had gone to see what the matter was when Alia's screams and cries began to frighten toddler Roland.

She saw Alia whipping fifteen year old Erik with Houston's leather belt. The boy was cowering on the floor covering his head and trying to jerk his body away from the smacking leather. Rakka had to grab Alia's arm and pry the belt from her hand to stop her from whipping Erik's back raw.

"ALIA! What are you doing? You're going to kill him!" Rakka yelled taking the belt away from Alia.

"HE BROUGHT FILTH INTO THIS HOUSE!" Alia kicked Erik in the ribs.

"Erik! Can you stand?" Rakka asked the trembling boy on the floor.

Erik looked up at her with tearful eyes and muttered, "I don't…know…"

"Alia, maybe you should go downstairs and calm down." Rakka suggested to the hysterical woman. Alia was seething at her son and didn't say anything. "Alia!"

"What?" Alia whirled on her and for a second, Rakka was afraid she was going to hit her. She wished that Terry and Houston didn't have work and that Sarabi's family hadn't gone on vacation.

"Alia, go downstairs before you end up doing something that you are going to regret." Rakka said in tone that she felt sure Riddick would use. "I'll be down in a minute to talk with you."

Maybe it was a miracle, or maybe Alia saw reason through her rage, horror, or hysteria. She turned and left the bedroom. Rakka listened to her leave the apartment and turned to Erik.

"What the hell happened?" She said as she knelt and helped him to sit up. "I have NEVER seen your mother like that before."

"She…found my stuff." Eirk muttered and shrugged off Rakka's hands. He glared at her as if Rakka nosing into his business.

"Now you listen to me." Rakka snapped jabbing a finger at him. "I just pulled her off your ass. So unless you want me to get her back up here to pick up where she left off you might want to get a better attitude with me."

Erik grunted in reply. Rakka stared at him with harsh eyes until he finally said, "She found my discs."

"Be a bit more specific." Rakka said. "What kind of discs set your mother off like that?"

"These." He reached toward several cartridges which Rakka hadn't noticed on the floor. He winced as he picked them up and handed them to Rakka. She stared at the covers. It showed a woman around her age with red hair and emerald green eyes in various sexual positions with several men…..

"Erik, my God….." Rakka murmured. "Porn? You're not eighteen, they're illegal for you to have! How did you get these?"

"From school. Larry's brother collect's 'em. He brought 'em to school and loaned them to me."

"Oh, Lord…" Rakka gasped. "Didn't you know that bringing something like this to school is grounds for you to get expelled?"

"Only if ya get caught." He replied.

"But you just DID get caught!" Rakka snapped. She gathered the discs and stood. "These are going into the garbage."

Erik's eyes widen and he grabbed her pants leg. "No! You can't! Larry's brother don't know I got these! Those cost over 400 UDs!"

It was Rakka's turn to widen her eyes. "What? 400 UDs! Discs cost only 20 to 30 UDs in the store! How can this smut be worth so much?"

"I don't know! The woman, Midge, is famous I guess." Erik replied.

"Alright, I won't throw them away, but I am going to call Larry's mother and tell her about these."

"You can't do that! Larry'll…!"

"I'd be more worried about myself if I were you. You are in enough trouble as it is. I can't believe you brought these here, knowing your mother! You knew better than to bring something like this into this House….especially where there are young children!" Her mind flew to Roland.

Erik was punished alright. All his electrical equipment, his vid, gaming console, coms, stereo, and other things were removed from his room and he was never allowed to have them back. His friendship with Larry ended after Rakka called his mother. Not long after Erik was shipped off to a military school off planet.

Military school was a bit harsh Rakka's mind. Alia still had a fit each time she remembered the porn discs, so it was never talked about much. Erik graduated school there, but he never came home. He stayed with the military …..

"I've seen your picture…" Rakka said after the startling flashback shot through her mind.

"Not one of my old recordings?" Midge said in mock surprise.

"No, just the cover…." Rakka stood in stunned realization that she was sharing an elevator with a porn star.

The elevator halted and the door slid open emitting a new hallway. Midge stepped out and started down the hall. Rakka follow her in silence.

"Here we are." Midge stopped at a door labeled 315. "This is the room Nikki wanted you to have. Don't worry, all the…. 'fun stuff' has been put away in the closet so they won't offend you. But you know where they are if you… 'get bored'."

Midge opened the door and led the way into the room. Rakka expected to see many obscene things, but she was surprised. It looked like an ordinary bedroom. There was no nude images of women on the walls. The bed looked like a regular bed and wasn't heart shape. The overhead lights looked normal and wasn't a spinning disco ball rotating dots of light around the room. It looked almost no different than her bedroom back on Yari.

"Nikki thought that you would feel more comfortable in this room, than any of the others." Midge said as she set the suitcase down by the bed.

"Each of the rooms are different?"

"Yeah. We got a room for ANY fantasy, at least any fantasy that Nikki and I know of or heard of." Midge commented. "We got a dungeon for those S&M types, a palace garden for those romantic types, and a police station, Slam, and ship's cockpit for any of those kinky types. This is our more subtle room for those who want a homey feeling."

"Thank you." Rakka said crossing her arms and rubbing them. "When will Riddick be up?"

"I don't know. Nikki's gonna talk with him for a while though." Midge said sitting on the bed. "She ask me to keep ya company."

"I…I'm alright." Rakka stuttered.

"No, I don't mean in sex….unless…."

"NO! No, no thanks."

"You really are uptight about sex."

"You're not a psychologist too are you?"

"Me? Naw, I ain't into that all head shrinking stuff, like Nikki. I leave that to her." Midge regarded Rakka with her green eyes and said, "So you've only seen the cover of my vid discs?"

"Yes, but only by accident." Rakka said shifting her feet uncomfortably.

"Those were back in my younger days. Got rich, started my own studio, spread my business here, met Nikki and we opened this place." Midge grinned at her and said, "I'm just here to relax, help out at the bar and shit."

"And Nikki told you about me?"

"Oh, yeah. Really sucks what happened with the baby. And people call me the devil for selling sex stuff when there are people out there selling HUMAN LIVES. No offense, but it makes me feel a bit better about myself, ya know."

Rakka licked her upper lip and said, "Thank you…Midge. I just hope that Nikki's information will help."

"I'm sure that it will." Midge grinned. "Once Nikki sets her mind to something, there's no stopping her. She'll come through, she always does."

"I hope so."

"I saw….Riddick. God, you are so damn lucky to get a man like that. Men like him are like loners, ya know. Especially the damn sexy ones."

"Thank you."

"Are you uncomfortable around me because I use to be a porn star and I now sell porn to the public?" Midge asked.

It was almost a slap in the face. Rakka opened her mouth to say no, but she realized that she would be lying. "I…I'm sorry….I…I'm ashamed…"

"No, it's no problem. You ain't the first person and nor will you be the last. At least you're not screaming Bible verses at me and calling me slut, whore, or my personal favorite: Jezebel. You're honest, and I appreciate that. But can you at least tell me why you're uncomfortable around me?"

Rakka stared at her for several moments, unsure of what to say. "I…I don't know. It's….I…I don't know what to say."

"Well, is it because I've had sex with….possibly a thousand people? Both professionally and casually?"

"I guess partially."

"Or are you afraid that I'm gonna put a move on you?"

"Partially."

"Would you feel the same way if I was a man?"

"No, I would feel even more uncomfortable."

"Have you been….assaulted sexually?"

"A….a few times….but never actually raped…."

"A few of them…women?"

"Yeah." Rakka whispered. "Look, I'm sorry. I….geez…look, I just have this thing about trusting people! I trusted people who wanted to use me and my…my prenatal doctor….sold my baby…."

"Jesus, that's harsh." Midge whistled.

"I'm tired. I think I need to sleep." Rakka said. Anything to get this woman away, the conversation was unnerving and she wanted to hear what news Nikki had. "If you see Nikki, please tell her to come and see me. I don't care how late it is or whether I'm asleep or not. Just tell her to come on in and wake me up."

"Sure, no problem." Midge grinned as she stood from the bed and walked passed Rakka. She paused at the door and said, "Look, if ya 'need anything', just ring me and I'll be up." She winked before she walked out the door and shut it behind her.

Rakka shivered and wondered why the hell Riddick kept taking her around people that wanted to get into her pants. She lay on the bed, but didn't sleep. She stared at the ceiling and felt the creeping of hope and dread leer into her mind.

Dare she hope that possibly by tomorrow night, Jack will be back in her arms and safe? What…what if they are too late and he was sent somewhere else, or worse….hurt or killed. She fought back the trill of panic that threatened to branch through her chest. Riddick said that they paid 50,000 UDs for him…as cold as it may sound that did bring her guilty comfort…..so they would be taking care of him.

She closed her eyes. If….IF…no, when….she got her lost baby back…what then? They would go back to Yari, she would deal with Roland, settle down in the role of a mother of a baby and a teenager…..and….

Would Riddick really leave? What surprised her more that….she wanted Riddick to stay….God….months ago…she didn't want him around Roland or Jack….what changed?

She didn't know, maybe just having him around the past several months was…unexplainable. He was aloof and kept to himself within the House, but what changed? What changed?

She couldn't imagine Riddick changing diapers, preparing a warm bottle, and the thought of his graveled voice speaking in baby talk…almost brought a smile to her lips. She never imagined Riddick as a father 14 years ago. Hell, she didn't think of him as a human being.

The door opened and Rakka leapt up and spun on the bed to see Nikki entered the room. Nikki grinned and shut the door behind her. Rakka couldn't help, but stare at Nikki's attire. It resembled a private school uniform, but the style would have surely gone against school regulations.

The blue skirt was too short; short enough to give the slightly glimpse of white panties even when Nikki was standing straight. The button up white shirt showed off her waist, but only two hooked buttons kept the shirt from falling off. It showed off Nikki's full cleavage and her breast looked as if they were going to slip out of the scanty blouse at any second. She wore black church shoes and calf length wool socks.

"Heysa." Nikki said as she approached the bed and promptly sat next to Rakka. She crossed her slim legs and flashed the room.

Rakka hung her legs over the edge of the bed. "What did you have to tell Riddick?"

"About the guys that snatched your kid." Nikki said calmly. "Riddick's already out huntin' them."

"He is?"

"Went right out the door after I gave him some names. Scouters, I calls 'em."

"Scouters?"

"Lemme tell ya how they work in this area." Nikki bent forward and took a back of smokes tucked into her sock out and sat up. "They call themselves Caring Charities. It's an adoption agency. They DO actually have legitimate adoptions occasionally to keep away suspicion, but their bread and butter come from rich wannabe parents."

Nikki removed a hot pink lighter from her other sock. "This part of the city is popular for…you know…degenerates as the polite society might say…so teen mothers, hookers who get accidentally pregnant, and dysfunctional lower class families are dime a dozen."

She selected a smoke from the pack and lit up. She set the pack on the edge of the bedstead and leaned back. "Caring Charities has ads in the papers, even vid commercials, and they even have fucking suits walking around handing out pamphlets in front of stores, restaurants, even places of worship. No one dare thinks that what they're really doing is harvesting."

"And stealing." Rakka murmured.

"Yeah, that too." Nikki took a long drag on her cigarette. She stared hard at Rakka and said, "They paid 50,000 for Jack, right?"  
"Did Riddick tell you that?"

"Yeah."

"Yes, the bitch doctor who….damn her….got paid kidnapping my baby."

"Look, I gave Riddick some names of some contacts. The guys who get in contact with mothers plannin' on giving up their kids. Fuck, this city is so low, there are moms here that are WILLING to sell their children."

"I cannot imagine willingly giving up Jack for my own benefit." Rakka whispered. "I wanted him, I wanted him since I found out I was pregnant."

"Look, don't worry. Riddick is on his way to one of these poor fuck's houses. Either you get your baby back or the body count in this ghetto is gonna skyrocket."

"That would draw attention to us."

"And attention is good. Believe me they don't want the cops sniffing around and catching wind of their 'business'. They'll either give up Jack or get their chops busted."

"Or kill Jack."

Nikki studied the distraught woman and said, "Listen, I know it don't look good, but ya can look at everything as something that could wrong or think of the worst that can happen. It gnaws away at ya and leaves ya empty."

Nikki stood from the bed and picked up the pack of smokes. "Gotta go, Midge will dip into the alcohol if ya don't watch her." She stared at Rakka's bowed head and leaned forward. She touched Rakka's chin and lifted her face upward. Rakka's blue-violet eyes seemed to glow from tears that threaten to come. Nikki set the pack back onto the bedstead and leaned forward.

Rakka's eyes widen as the younger woman kissed her gently on the lips. Instead of pushing Nikki away or twisting her head away she studied it. It was soft, gentle, and giving kiss; not like Riddick's which was possessive, rough, and taking. She felt a touch at her breast and lean back away from the kiss. Nikki's manicured fingers were lightly stroking where Rakka's nipple would be.

"I'll stop if you want me to." Nikki whispered, bringing her face close to hers.


	49. Ink

She leaned away from Nikki and said, "I. . . I don't think so. Thank you, you've been. . . good to me and Riddick."

Nikki took her hand away and shrugged. "Oh, well, can't blame me for trying.

Rakka felt a smile tug at her lips. "I think I'll go to bed now."

"We'll come up and wake when Riddick comes back, and don't worry." Nikki said before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Rakka took off her shoes and pants, deciding to sleep in her shirt. If they had to leave in a rush, then she would be ready to go. She had trouble sleeping for a long time. She kept listening out for Riddick to come through the door or possibly. . . just hopefully, a baby's cry.

Her thoughts eventually went to back to Riddick leaving. When they get Jack back, return to the colony, sort things out with Roland, and. . . see Riddick off she guessed. She didn't want him to leave, she understood that he had a race to lead, but he could visit. . . .

God, she couldn't wait until they went home and things got back to normal with the baby.

* * *

_She was wearing a thin white robe which was made of gauze like silk that seemed to flow as she breathed and moved. Her copperish blonde hair hung loose about her shoulders. She was within what looked like a cross between a bedroom and a meditation chamber. _

_There was a makeshift bed of silken cushions with sheets of transparent white silk hanging from railings circling the "bed". There was incense candles burning along the shelves and the room scented of energy and peace. The carpet was deep red hue which her bare feet sank into at each step. To the far, far corner was a small miniature fountain from which a tiny stream of water gave off the sooth sound of trickling water. _

_Steam was rolling from the room far to the right from which also came the sound of running water. She stood with a burgundy towel in her hands waiting. Soon, the water stopped running and wet footsteps could be slapping on smooth marble. Soon her blue-violet eyes detected a large figure moving through misty steam. _

_Riddick emerged from the mist and steam billowed around his nude form. She smiled as he approached her. She held out the towel and step forward to meet him. She let the towel hang from her hands and he walked into and she wrapped the towel around his hips. _

_Him being so close to her like this was intoxicating. She could smell the soap from his skin, but underlying that was his musky scent that sent a dull ache from her tongue to her stomach. She couldn't fight the urge and ran her tongue up his rib and to his nipple. He inhaled and released it in a lusty sigh._

_His hand touched her throat and she lifted her in time for his hot mouth to touch hers. His mouth was moist from the shower and his tongue was like liquid fire rushing down her throat and into her loins. She found her hands cupping his sculpted cheeks, her fingers splayed along the folds of his ears. _

_It took sheer will to push him away, not to tug away the towel at his hips or allow him to open her robe and reveal that she wore nothing underneath it. "Riddick, we have to. . .do this first."_

_She motioned toward the makeshift bed of cushions. Along side of it was a short tray with a small tub warm water on top of a mini-burner, a finely crafted brush with an obsidian handle of onyx and the brush made of silken hair of an extinct animal. Beside them was glass container of a black substance called ink, except it was solid. _

_"Let's fuck first." Riddick murmured into her ear, his rough fingers stroking her jaw line. "I'll take another shower."_

_"It's better to go ahead and do it and be done with it." She replied softly, lowering his hand from her face. "Please."_

_He murmured something under his breath, which was probably best that she couldn't hear him. She took his hand with hers and guided him toward the bed of cushions. She paused him when the came to the edge of it and took the towel from his waist. She began to pat his body dry with. She ignored a very suggestive and erotic comment he made as she patted the towel down his legs. She even managed to ignore his hardening arousal. _"He'll just have to deal with it until I'm through."

_When she was sure that his body was completely dry and there was no wet spots that could make the ink run. She tossed aside the towel and urged Riddick to lay face down on the cushions. She laid a burgundy silken sheet over his lower body, leaving his bare back revealed to her. Even his back was irresistibly sexy; she stopped herself from leaning forward and planting a wet kiss on a shoulder blade._

_She took of a small bottle of oil from the floor which had been placed there for this occasion. She spread it over her hands and rubbed them together to warm it up. Then she smeared it over Riddick back and massaged it into his skin. The oil insinuated the powerful muscles beneath his caramel skin. _

_"Why do you think things will go back to normal after we find Jack?" Riddick asked and his voice vibrated through his back and into her hands._

_"Well, why shouldn't it?" She rubbed her hands in circular motion._

_"And why should it?" Riddick had pulled a pillow beneath his chin and hand folded his arms before him. He looked over his shoulder at her without disturbing her massage too much. "What does the universe owe you to go back into alignment to make you happy?"_

_She paused, her hands stopping at his lower back. "I. . . I don't know. I just figured that. . . it would just. . . be normal. . . "_

_"What is normal?" Riddick licked his lips. "What is the definition of normal?"_

_"If I had a dictionary, I'd look it up for you." She replied crisply and finished rubbing the oil into his skin._

_"There are different versions of normal and they change constantly." Riddick said while she turned to the tray. "For you, before you met me, you were livin' in a large city with your parents in a small apartment. You went to school and they went to work in the mornin'. You came home, had dinner, and went to bed. You did this everyday since you were little, but after you killed that kid, everything changed. You went through hell with me durin' the time we traveled together and ended up knocked up. You went to the colony and then you led another "normal" life."_

_While he spoke, Rakka set the tub of warm water off the burner and switched it on. A small blue flame flicked up and she set the container of solid ink atop of it. The flame licked the bottom of it and she watched as the ink began to gleam in the candle light. She looked over at Riddick and said, "Are you saying that there is going be another change in my life?"_

_"Yeah." Riddick replied. "It's comin'. You won't like it, but it's gonna happen."_

_"What's going to happen?" She touched his oiled shoulder, but he didn't look at her. He stared ahead and was still. "Riddick, what's going to happen?"_

_"Everything." He replied._

_She turned her attention to the melt container of melting ink. She picked up the brush and dipped it into the warm water. She stroked it along the melting ink. She dabbed it on the back of her hand. It was a comfortable warm temperature and wiped the ink off her hand with a small cloth. _

_"Tell me if it's too hot." She said as she placed the tip of the brush to his shoulder. _

_"'s fine."_

_Then she began. She didn't know what the symbols meant, but she drew them as if she had drawn them all her life. And she didn't even remember whether or not she has seen these symbols before. They consisted of long lines, curves, and points. They were harsh to her eyes and she had to pause and blink several times in order to continue. _

_They trail down from his shoulders and interlace along his spine. As she got to his lower back and to the edge of the sheet covering his ass. She pulled the sheet away, revealing his backside and nice legs. _

_"Like the view?" Riddick asked over his shoulder. _

_"Yes." She had to admit as she collected the bottle of oil and spread more over her hands. She swallowed and inhale deeply as she smeared the oil over Riddick's buttocks. Riddick sighed and she felt her body quiver with desire as her hands practically groped his ass. _

_She knew Riddick was rock hard, and she didn't need to see it to know it. She continued and smooth more oil onto Riddick's legs. She took up the brush again and replenished it with ink. The designs continued downward, over the curves of his buttocks and along the back of his thighs. She kept her hand along the side of his calf as she painted. She ended at his ankles and leaned backward to study her work. _

_The dark designs seemed to enunciate his muscles and sleek body. She ran her finger along the black designs at his shoulders. They were already dry and well absorbed into the oiled skin. _

_"We'll wait a while for the ink on your legs to dry." She told him as she set the brush aside. She reached out and ran her fingertips over his scalp. "I think we'll need to shave these stubbles off when I start on your head."_

_Riddick purred and lifted his head into her hand. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his head. His stubbles scrubbed her lips and her fingers gently rubbed his earlobes. His purr turned into a low growl in his throat and his arm reached behind him. His hand reached into her robe and along her belly. His hand stroked between her thighs and she exhaled into his ear, her tongue tracing its outer fold. _

_She probed her fingers along his scalp while her hips gyrated against his fingers ministrations to her body. She drew her along the back of his leg and found that the ink had dried._

_"You can roll over now." She whispered. _

_And he did, taking her with him. His hand slipped from her robe and his arm hooked around her shoulders and she was bodily pulled forward. Then she found herself on her back beside Riddick, who lay on his side, her robe opened showing off her pale skin. His arm was supporting her shoulders and came around so his hand could fondle her breasts while his other hand began to stroke the core of her sex between her thighs. His face was close to hers and she tilted her face, placing her lips against his. _

_She enjoyed the sweet thrills that seemed to clash within her body into an orgy of war and ecstasy. His rough hand squeezing her breast and a hard thumb rolling over her nipple, and the same rough fingers stroking her, and sculpted lips tasted of. . .fire and promise of something so much more. . . _

_His hard length lay across her thighs and her right hand trail down his chest, stopping only to stroke his nipple. She wrapped her hand around his erection and stroked him in turn. Riddick sighed into her mouth and his hand squeezed her breast hard. _

_Riddick broke away from the kiss, and rolled onto his back taking her with him. She was straddling his waist and looked down at him. He licked his upper lip, his rough hands were on her thighs, shifting her back. _

_"We shouldn't, Riddick." She whispered. "You'll get sweaty and. . ."_

_"Then wipe me off." He replied. _

_"We got to get this done."_

_"Then do it while I do you. You're a woman, multitask." _

_"We can't do it hard and fast thing. I got to concentrate and I need my hand to be steady."_

_"Fine, we'll make up for it later."_

_She put her weight on her knees and lifted herself up. She took erection in one hand and held it at her opening and lowered herself down. A small whine hummed in her throat as he filled her body. Riddick exhaled a breath hard enough she felt it blow on her face. _

_She rolled her hips experimentally and reached for the bottle of oil. It was out of her reach from her position and Riddick picked it up and held it out for her. She reached for it, but he held it further away. She had to lift herself up his penis to the point where his head was still inside before he allowed her to have it, and she sank back down onto him. _

_She moaned and licked her lips. Riddick seemed to purr and watched her pour oil onto her hands and rub them together. She set the bottle aside, within HER reach, and smeared it over his chest. She lifted her hips slightly loving the feel of him inside her. She slaked down his chest, along his ribs, and within the cobbles of his stomach. She was mesmerized by his body. He didn't get this from surgery, working out in a special gym with a special training, or from some special diet. He got this body from survival. From countless fights in slams, eating tasteless food, from climbing, living off the land, whatever he did to survive, it all led all up to this sculpted figure that God himself could have created with his own hands. _

_She took of the brush and started on the designs, from his shoulders and down his breasts, barely missing his nipples. While one hand painted, the other held Riddick's hand on her hip, their fingers laced. His other hand was stroking her calf at his hip and thigh. They took a very slow and steady pace, not as hard or fast as Riddick would have liked, but it was fine. _

_The patterns interlaced along his stomach and down to his pelvis. She stopped painting and set the brush aside on the tray. She held his other hand and increased their rhythm. Riddick's hands pulled on her arms urging her to lean forward over him. She resisted, not wanting to risk her hair or the robe marring the wet ink on his skin. _

_Then he climaxed, spilling his seed inside her. She soon followed and their mixed fluids oozed her body as she lifted herself from him. She took a quick trip to the bathroom to clean herself up and came back with a bath cloth for him to clean himself. He tossed the cloth to the far corner of the room when he was finished. _

_"Try not to get too excited." Rakka muttered as she poured more oil onto her hands._

_"No promises." Riddick replied as she set the bottle aside and went to work on his hips and thighs. She massages his lower stomach, but kept her distance from his limp penis. She was hoping it was too soon after sex for it to come back up and tempt her again. Sure enough, as she got through with his hips and started on his thighs, it was coming back up. "You're going to have to deal with it."_

_"Why? You're right there."_

_"Because, I got to get this done. We're more than halfway done."_

_"It's something you wanted to do."_

_"Yes, but you only agreed to it because you figured that you would get a lot of sex out of it."_

_"Sounds like foreplay, this full body painting."_

_"It's not foreplay, it. . . means more for you and for me. . . I'm helping you."  
"With what?"_

_"Becoming."  
"Becoming what?"_

_"I don't know yet."_

_"These ain't Hitomian designs."_

_"No, they are not." _

_"At least suck me off when the ink dries."_

_"Okay." She finished massaging the oil into his legs. She picked up her brush. "Hold it out of my way and try not to let it get into the ink."_

_He made a soft purring sound at her, but his hand held himself while she painted his lower belly. Luckily, she could go around so the patterns slope down his hips and around to his thighs. She painted down his perfect legs. She went down to his feet and propped each of his foot against her stomach and ended the designs at the top of his feet. _

_"You can let go of yourself now. I'm sure the ink has dried around. . . it."_

_"Naw,holding it for you." _

_"Let me finish with your arms, first." She said. "That way I won't mess up the ink on your legs."_

_She carefully moved around to his upper body. The ink was almost gone, but there was enough for the stripes that should align down his arms. She pulled his arm and laid it across her lap. She had to shake it to keep him from stroking her thigh and be still. _

_She stroked his arm with the brush, slash black lines up and down his arm. She went around to the other arm and Riddick contributed by switching hands on his dick. God, he was irritating. _

_"Don't move your arms." She said. She only painted the top of his arms, not beneath them. She positioned them down his sides so the ink was facing up. The stripes ended on the back of his hands. _

_She touched his thigh and the ink was dry and well absorbed into the oil and flesh. His was fully erect already. She didn't know whether it was Riddick's stimulus or his Furyan heritage. _

_She replaced his hand with hers and took the head into her mouth. She held her hand away from her face and lowered her head down onto him. She was kneeling between his spread painted legs, her free hand touched his thigh. She couldn't deep throat, but not from lack of practice, but she could take him to the edge of her throat, to right before she would gag. _

_Riddick growled encouragement, his hands squeezing the cushions beneath him. He arched his back, pushing himself into her mouth as he came. She choked lightly, but managed to swallow it with only a little hanging off her lips. She licked that away and smooth her hand up his belly. _

_"Almost finished."_

_"Where's Roland?" Riddick asked startling her._

_"Why, back at the colony," She answered._

_"No, he's not there anymore."_

_"He should be there." _

_"And why should he?" Riddick asked sitting up. "What does he owe you?"_

_"I'm his mother."_

_"He's growin', getting' older, getting wiser. His debt to you as your son is endin'."_

_"No, it's not."_

_"That's what all mothers say when the kids leave the house."_

_"We need to shave the stubbles off your head."_

_"Use this." A shiv appeared in his hand out of no where, as usual. Instead of offering it to her, he shoved it into her throat. Blood gushed forth and covered her breasts and stained her white robe. She choked and starred blankly at him. His face was dead, his silvery eyes just starred straight through her as she died. _

* * *

Rakka awoke with sweat clinging to her body and her heat pounding beneath her breast. It took her several seconds to realize that she was not in that exotic room from her dream, but was within a bedroom within a brothel. She panted as the relief settled inside her chest that she was stabbed, but was alive and well.

She couldn't help, but touch her throat where the dream Riddick had stabbed her. It felt so real, with the pain and loss of air. God, she even felt the blood draining down her throat and seeping into her lungs. She shuddered at the horrible memory of it. Up to that point, it had been pleasant and very good.

She glanced over at the bedside clock It was 8:00 in the morning. Where was Riddick? Better, yet, did he find Jack?

She swung her legs over the bed's edge and got shakily to her feet. She slipped into a pair of jeans she wore from yesterday. She was afraid to go outside her alone within the brothel. She was sure it was safe; however she didn't want to be mistaken as a employee by some drunk and cause trouble for Nikki and Midge.

But the thought that her baby could be downstairs waiting for her. . . it made her open the door and walk out into the hallway. It still looked neat and clean outside and it was also empty.

Rakka headed down the hall, which was the same way that Midge had led her last night. She got into the same elevator and road it down to the first floor. And she headed down the last set of stairs into the bar room. It was slow and very few men were sitting alone and drinking.

One or two looked up at her and graded her with their stares, than went back to their drinking. She ignored them and stepped down off the last step and looked around. She couldn't see anybody she knew. No Midge, Nikki, or Riddick could be seen.

She looked around, deciding that maybe it wasn't a good idea for her to leave her room after all.

"Rakka?"

She turned to see Nikki approaching her from behind. She was wearing a very skimpy and transparent blue nightie. "Nikki, have you heard from Riddick?"

"No, not yet." Nikki said. "You shouldn't be out here alone this early. You're not one of the girls, and the guys around here. . . well, they ain't use to girls in Sweet Ecstasy saying no."

"I'm sorry." Rakka said feeling very disappointed and worried. "What does it mean that Riddick's hasn't come back yet?"

"I don't know." Nikki shrugged. "Could be he's having trouble, being held up somewhere, lost, or stuck in traffic. I'm keeping a com signal cleared in my office and been keeping an eye on the news incase something happens."

"Oh, he'll be back." Rakka assured both Nikki and herself. "He always comes back one way or another."

"I'll trust you on that. Come on, I'll have somebody bring you something to eat to your room. Might be a good idea if you stay there for the rest of the day, or until Riddick comes back. He said we would have issues if something happens to you."

Riddick didn't come back during the day, but he didn't show up that night. Rakka spent the day agonizing over the condition of her baby, eating meals, and watching the vid for anything that may have happened to could involve Riddick.

She reluctantly went to bed that night and thankfully had no more erotic nightmares. However, something was touching her, and prodding her. She opened her eyes and nearly screamed when she saw Riddick hovering over her.

She yelped as she sat up, throwing the covers off her body. "Riddick? Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you."

"Not as sick as you're gonna be when I tell you what I found out."

Rakka felt her heart sink into her stomach. "Oh, god, Riddick. . .what?"

"Jack is okay, he's alright." Riddick said squatting in front of her. "Let me talk, okay?"

She nodded, but the lump inside her throat didn't go away.

"I followed out the hits that Nikki gave me. I made the fuckers talked and it took me longer than I expected cuz, there's a lot of assholes workin' in this group. Anyways, long story short, I found out what we needed to know. Where Jack is."

Rakka felt like screaming, but she managed, by some small miracle to calmly say, "Where is he?"

"They didn't sell him. He was adopted legally by a couple two weeks ago and they live in a city not too far away from Discu."

Rakka felt numb. She was happy that Jack was safe and had been safe while she worried sick about what could be happening to him, yet she was still feeling afraid for him. It was like a void was being filled with something completely different, but she wasn't sure what. "Why. . . didn't they sell him? I. . .they paid 50,000 UDs. . .I mean. . .they lost out on a lot of money."

"Yeah, they did. Rakka, they didn't sell him because. . .he isn't. . . white enough for them." Riddick said stilling looking into her face.

Rakka stared at him. She wasn't sure she heard correctly. "What. . .I. . . I don't understand. . .I think I'm in shock or something. . .not white enough?"  
Riddick shrugged and said, "He must have my skin coloring or something. White babies, just sell better than babies that aren't white."

"Well, if Dr. Turner didn't think that Jack would sell that well then why did she steal him?"

"Because, everyone thought that Terry was the father, even she did." Riddick explained sitting back on his heels. "He's white, you're a white Hitomian, they expected a white baby."  
"My god. . ." Rakka whispered. "If. . .I had been honest with everyone. . .and I hadn't tried to save face with everyone. . . and let them know that you were the father. . .oh, god. . .then none of this would have happened. Turner would never have sold him. . . I would still have him with me right now. . .oh, god."  
"She probably wouldn't have even bothered calling them up. This is what happened. Turner jumps around a lot. Hospital to hospital, from planet to planet. When she finds a "candidate" she calls them up and gives them information about the parents and sets a price. She delivers and they send her the money. What may have happened was that when she saw that I was the father, she didn't bother to let them know that Jack wasn't worth as much as she had believed so she let them take him anyway. Whether was gonna run with the money or sort it out with them, I can't say. But when I killed her, it spooked them, so instead of selling or killing Jack, the put him up for a legal adoption." Riddick licked his upper lip and said, "And that is where it gets very very tricky."


	50. Preparation

"Tricky? Why tricky?" Rakka asked looking down at him. "It's shouldn't be tricky. We just go and get him from the parents. Tell them that he was stolen from us and they'll hand him over."

Riddick shook his head and said, "They won't hand him over. Rakka, they love him."

Rakka swallowed a lump in her throat and couldn't speak.

Riddick continued, ""They had him for almost two weeks. That's why I didn't come back till now. I was scopin' out their place. Rakka, they are loaded."

"I still don't understand." Rakka said through her teeth. "Why can't we just tell them that Jack is my baby and get him back?"  
Riddick stood away from her and turned away. "They are gonna fight to keep Jack."

Rakka stood always enraged. "I'm his mother! They can't keep him from me!"

"I know, and that may be the only way you can keep him unless they can prove you are an unfit mother and terminate your parental rights to him."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Rakka nearly screamed at his back. "They can't keep Jack away from me. End of story!"

"Dammit, Rakka, think about it!" He turned on her and said, "They love him. I seen 'em with him. I went to their place and infiltrated their security. They have a nursery for him, the woman was givin' him a bottle and holdin' him."  
Another woman taking care of her baby. Rakka wanted to claw her hair with rage and frustration. "Okay, okay, so why the hell didn't you sneak in and get him when she left?"  
Riddick stared at her. She stared back waiting with bated breath wondering what the hell was wrong with him. "What?"  
"Rakka, do you want me to do the same thing to them that was done to us?" Riddick asked still staring at her face.

Rakka couldn't answer him at all. She felt the air leave her lungs and it took a while before she was able to take another breath. She remembered that horrible week where she had wept in that hospital room inside her own personal hell. Could she ask Riddick to do the same thing to another woman? To just take away that tiny little life away and leave her wondering if Jack was okay? Was he alive? Was he scared? Was he hungry? The same questions that plagued her for so long. Could she truly be like Dr. Turner and do that to another woman?

Her lips were trembling and she said, "So what? What do we do to get him back then?"

Riddick inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled. "You'll have to try to get custody of him through the System."

"I have to go into a custody battle for my own child?" Rakka asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, but I talked to Nikki and she gave me a lawyer's name. A lawyer that she trusts and will keep a load of shit confidential about us. I talked with him about out situation and he has come up with a. . .battle plan."

"Wait, how long have you been back?"

"Four hours. Been hashing it over the comvid with the lawyer."

"Why did you wake me up?"

"You needed the sleep, sides, I wanted this shit sorted out so I understood it before I tried explainin' it to ya."

Rakka looked at him with wide eyes. "Finally, you admit to something you aren't the expert at."

"Don't start being a bitch now." Riddick growled. "Listen, you need to straighten your ass out. The lawyer says that best case scenario is that the Wilias will hand Jack over without a fuss, but that don't seem likely. We need you to be your best incase you have to face a judge."

"Oh, god." Rakka whispered in sheer disbelief.

"The lawyer, his name is Tim Yunn, says that the fact that you are Jack's biological is the only thing going in yer favor. Also, you're gonna have to prove that you have a stable home environment and are a fit mother. He says that this should be an easy fight, but sense Wilas are rich and can afford the best lawyers. The only thing that they could possibly do to win is to prove you are an unfit mother. Since you're not an alcoholic, a drug user, and you're sometimes mentally stable, we have a very good chance."

"I still don't understand. Why can't we just tell them that Jack was stolen?"

"I had it checked out with Adrian before we left. Dr. Turner never filed any information or reports about deliverin' Jack. No doubt that Caring Charities, where they adopted Jack from, put it down that he was found in an alley or in my case, a trash can."

Rakka stared at Riddick and said, "Riddick. . .are you. . .okay?"

"Yeah." He clipped at her and continued. "You're gonna have a hard time proving that he was taken from you. Wilas are gonna claim that you abandoned him and that may count against. Yunn says that we still have a very good chance since the System favors family reunion with biological parents."

Rakka swallowed and said, "Well. . .when do we start."

"First, something else Yunn said." Riddick said licking his upper lip. "I can't be apart of it."

Rakka stared at him. "What?"

"I can't have anything to do with the case. My name can't turn up and Yunn even suggested that it would be better if I ain't around you during it."

"No, Riddick, I need you with me. I can't do it alone!" She reached out as if to pull him close to her and hang on to his so he wouldn't leave.

"Rakka, if I'm dragged into it, then you're gonna loose Jack for good. My info is still in the System. If you go on about me being the father, they're gonna use my rep against you. I'm Richard B. Riddick, a killer which automatically fits into the unfit father category and they'll link me to you as an unfit mother."

"So. . .I'm gonna have to fight alone?" Rakka asked.

"Yeah, this is one fight I can't fight for you. You're gonna have to fight it yourself." Riddick ran a hand over his shaved head and said, "I spent the last hours going over this shit with Yunn and he knows the score. He does everything to help you build a good case and he gets paid. Nikki says that he's good. She goes to him for any legality problems she gets runnin' this joint and so far he's managed to make it go in her favor. He's willing to get into it for us since he's very sure we already won before we even started. But that depends on you to keep it straight."

"That's. . .a lot of pressure, Riddick." She whispered.

"You're gonna do it. Just be yourself and you're gonna prove that Jack is gonna be so much better off with you than the Wilas."

Rakka stared at him shocked. "Riddick? Is that a compliment?"

"Jes the wind, bitch." He responded.

"Thank you, Riddick." Rakka said. "You have done a lot for me and I am very grateful to you."

He stared at her and said, "Show me."

She blinked at him and she didn't know whether to be angry or lustful. "Damn, I should have known that a custody case for our child wouldn't put you off."

* * *

That morning, she woke up to find him gone. She sat up, her body sore again from hard sex and her inner thighs still wet from body fluids. She looked around the room as if she could see Riddick somewhere in the room.

"Riddick?" She called softly. How many times has it been that she would wake up and he's gone?

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, pulling a sheet around her. She noted a small piece of paper with numbers scrawled over it. She picked it and recognized it as a com signal and on the bedside was a com that hadn't been their before. She picked it up and punched in the numbers.

The com beeped into her ear for a second, then the signal was received. A gravel voice said, "Yeah, Rakka?"

"How do you know it's me before I answer?"

"Cuz, yer the only one with the number to this com."

"Oh." Rakka said looking down at her bare feet. "Why did you leave me this morning?"

"Cuz today is when you and Yunn go to file for custody of Jack. Yunn is going to take care of you. You and him are going to have a lot of contact over the next several days. He's also gonna take you to a new apartment. You can't be hanging around a brothel if yer gonna prove you a fit mother. Can't give 'em any ammunition to throw at you."

"When will I see you again?" Rakka asked.

"I'll be around watching, but we can't talk, can't touch, and can't let on that we even know each other. When this shit gets started then they're gonna be watching you, to see if you slip up."

"I wish you were gonna be there with me." Rakka whispered into the com.

"Scared?"

"Yeah, I just don't like the idea of somebody trying to see the bad in me to prove me unfit."

"You get use to it."

"I'm sorry, Riddick."

"Don't call me on this com again. Only incase something happens that you need me to handle. You can't have any contact with me at all, but you'll be seeing me. When you do, act like you don't know me. Don't wave, don't talk, don't even look at me."

"Alright." Rakka promised him. "How are you going to know how things go?"

"Well, if we're winning, you're gonna smile. If we're loosing, you're gonna be crying your fuckin' eyes out."

Rakka was glad that Riddick couldn't see her smile at the joke. "I guess you're right. Anyway, I will see you again after. . .it's finished."

"Yeah, you will. . .to say goodbye."

Rakka felt her throat constrict. She had forgotten that Riddick was leaving after they get Jack back. She parted her lips to say she didn't want him to leave, she wanted him to stay with her. She wanted him to stay with her forever.

She froze, her heart pounding beneath her breast in disbelief. She wanted Riddick to stay with her forever. There it was done, the thought had finally came into her mind, the answer to a question she had asked herself for so long. What did she want from Riddick? She wanted Riddick to be with her for as long as possible. She needed him, she loved him. How she loved him, she didn't know, she just knew that she loved him and didn't want to loose him. She was scared to death to tell him about her feelings, knowing that he wouldn't hold them in any regard.

"Rakka? Rakka?" His voice interrupted her deep revelations.

"Riddick. . .yeah. . .I was. . . yawning. I'm still tired. You kept me up." She said quickly into the com.

"Whatever." He said in a tone that suggested that he didn't believe her at all.

"So, you have any other advice?" Rakka asked.

"Yeah, keep your shiv with you, except when you go to the Court. They have metal detectors and it ain't gonna look good if they find a homemade shiv on ya. Leave it at the apartment when you go to Court, but keep it with you when you go out."

"Go out? Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Not really. You're gonna move to Catica today. Catica is several miles away from Discu. It's smaller and more a more friendly place than Discu is, so you can go out by yourself, buy food and shit. But keep the shiv with you. Just because it safer than Discu doesn't mean that fuckers ain't wondering around there."

Rakka nodded and said, "I understand. I'll do that. Who's taking me to Catica?"

"Yourself. There's a shuttle between Discu and Catica you're gonna take. From there, Yunn is gonna pick you up and go directly to the court and file for custody of Jack. Yunn's gonna go over all the technicalities with you about the case. I checked him out and he's trustworthy, but I'll be watching him."

"What about money? I didn't bring any with me."

"I opened an account in a bank within Catica. Look on the bedstead and you'll see a UD check card beside you. Use it to buy shit, I'll keep the account supplied, but fuck it, don't go on a goddamn shopping spree with my money, bitch."


	51. Battle

Rakka road the shuttle later that afternoon to Catica. She was nervous and full of anticipation. She felt as if she was standing at edge of a deep, dark pool full of hungry monsters waiting for her to take that final step into the icy water. She had the option of stepping away from the edge to safety, but to do so she would forever forfeit her son.

She paid her fare for the shuttle with Riddick UD check card and boarded it after storing her suitcase with the cargo. She took her seat and she unhappily gotten the window seat and she had to force herself not look out the window as the shuttle left the ground.

She had been seated beside a man in his mid-thirties. He tried striking up a conversation with her and when the shuttle finally landed at Catica, he asked if she wanted to go out to dinner that night. He was not unattractive, however, he wasn't Riddick. She politely turned him down and told him that she had very important business to care of. She hurried away from him before he could ask for her number.

After she grabbed her suitcase from the cargo hold, she made her way into the lobby. She reached into her pocket and removed a photo from her pocket. It was a business card with Yunn's picture on it. She studied the image carefully and scanned the surrounding lobby.

Then she finally saw him reading a newspaper on a bench near the center fountain. She slid the card back into her pocket and approached the man.

"Excuse me?"

He looked up startled. He was Asian with raven hair cut trimmed very neatly. He wore a business suit with dark shoes. He gave her the too familiar stare at her eye color and he said, "You must be Rakka Laotaner."

"Yes, are you Tim Yunn?"

"Yes, I am." He folded his newspaper and tucked it under his arm. He stood and he was taller than her by a few inches. "How was your trip?"

"Not very good." Rakka admitted. "I'm just scared to death of what's going to happen next?"  
"Don't be. We already got a very good case and we haven't even got the ball rolling yet."

"So you really think our chances are that good?" Rakka said still feeling uncertain.

"I really do. The only obstacle we need to overcome is to make them agree to giving Jack a blood test to prove that you are the biological mother. After that, it'll be smooth sailing."

"What if they refuse a blood test? Can they do that?"

"Yes, they could, but we would need to prove that there is a possibility that you are the mother, meaning we need to prove that you had given birth recently and your baby is missing."

"That shouldn't be too hard." Rakka said glancing down at her milk supplying breasts.

"You'll need to be checked out by a neutral physician and send his report in to the judge."

"How soon can we this ball rolling?" She asked.

"Well, I was hoping that we could go ahead and get you checked out by a physician, that way we already have the report in hand."

"Can you tell me when I can. . .get Jack back?"

Yunn's confident smile faded a little and he said, "Mrs. Laotaner, I really can't say. Custody cases can be as short as a few weeks to years. It's just according to how long the "opponent" is willing to fight."

Rakka stared at him shocked. "I. . .I can't go for years without my baby! I can't! These weeks without him has been hell enough for me!"

Yunn touched her shoulder comfortingly. "Listen, listen, it's okay. We already have a very good case all organized and who knows, the Wilas may not even put up a fight for him. They may just hand him over after you prove you are the mother. The court prefers reunion with biological parents and you got that going for you. The only way, the only way that Wilas can keep Jack is if they can prove that you are an unfit mother and have your parental rights terminated. And for that to happen you would have to be a drug addict, abusive, mentally unstable, and a criminal."

Rakka felt her blood chill. She had killed three men. That would make her a murderer.

"Mrs. Laotaner? Is something wrong?" Yunn's voice echoed inside her mind. "Are you thinking about Riddick?"

"Yeah. . ." She said softly.

"Okay, don't worry. So far, we don't need to bring his name into the mix. And things would go smoother if he wasn't involved at all. Unless it's important that they know who the true father is, then we should go ahead and let them believe that late husband,Terry, is the father."

"Wouldn't that be lying?"

"Not exactly. It's just not divulging unrequested information. Letting them think that Terry was Jack's father might not be a very bad idea. Playing the part of the grieving widow looking for missing child will win points with any judge."

Rakka licked her lips and said, "It just seems like we're tricking them."

Yunn looked at her and said, "Ma'am, you have to understand that custody cases can get really nasty. They can be very brutal and very emotional. Somebody is always hurt in a custody case and sometimes it's everybody. Skeletons in the closet get dug up and thrown out in public, accusations are thrown, and reputations are ruined forever."

Rakka inhaled and exhaled slowly. "You make it sound like a battle."

Yunn looked her in the eye and said, "It is a battle."

* * *

The physical went well. The doctor took note of her nursing breasts and did a short scan of her body and a blood test. He affirmed what she already knew, that she had been pregnant and given birth almost a month ago. They also did a drug test with her urine to prove that she wasn't an addict or an alcoholic.

Yunn took her to a hotel where her room was already reserved and waiting for her. It was a very nice room. The bathroom was cleanest bathroom she had ever seen in a hotel. The bed was queen size and the kitchen held a stove, a coffee maker, a refrigerator, and even a garbage disposal. The living room was very comfortable with a couch and a large vid.

Yunn told her that he would file the charges for her and call her about the results. She on the bed staring at the very nervous and feeling very alone. She believed Riddick when he told her that he would be around watching out for her, but she wished he was here with her right now.

God, she was so overwhelmed. Her revelation about her feelings for Riddick and this whole custody thing. She had thought that it would be simple. Riddick would get Jack back and they go back to Yari. Simple as that. She never believed that she would have to go so far to get her son back.

She laid back on the mattress and thought about herself and Riddick. She wanted Riddick to be with her and the kids forever. She got him back and she wasn't willing to let him go (even though there were times she wanted to throw him out on his ass). However, Riddick seemed determine to leave after they get Jack back. Who was she to try and keep him?

The mother of his kids, that's who.

That's something she and Riddick would have to fight about later, right now she needed to concentrate on getting Jack back first. She twisted her head to look at the com and hoped that Yunn would call soon.

At that second the com began shrieking at an incoming call. She yelped and flipped over to fumble with the com. She managed to accept the call and yank the com to her ear. "Hello?"  
"Mrs. Laotaner?" It was Yunn

"Yes!" She wrestled to sit up on the bed, her heart beating. "How did it go?"

"Well, the Wilas want to meet you and they're bringing their lawyer, so I would suggest I come with you to this meeting,"

Rakka felt her heart do a leap. She never imagined having to meet them. The people who wanted her baby, who wanted to be her baby's mother and father, she couldn't imagine facing them. "Yunn. . .is this a good sign?"

"I can't say. It's according to what they have to say. But I will say this. . .it is good that they are willing to meet with us and maybe we can get this settled quietly and calmly."

"When do we meet them?"

"Tomorrow. 11:00 in the morning. I don't want to offend you, but do you have anything nice to wear?"

"Uh. . .no, I didn't think I would need anything, but I can buy something." She checked the clock. "It's early enough for me to do a little shopping and I need to get some groceries. Um. . .I'm just asking, but. . .how safe is Catica?"

"Meaning is it safe for you to walk alone?"  
"Yeah."

"It's safer than Discu, but I wouldn't go down any alleys alone and I'd stay away from any rough looking people. But I'm sure you'll be alright."

"Thanks. I appreciate it very much."

"You're welcome. Do you want me to arrange a cab for you?"

"Yes, that would be nice. I don't know how to drive."  
"Really?"

"Is something wrong?" She asked hoping that her inexperience in driving wasn't going to count against her.

"No, no, I guess in this day and age everyone is expected to be able to drive."

"I never had the chance to learn." Rakka admitted. "The college I attended had options for driving lessens, but they were too expensive."

"Whoa, wait, you went to college?"

"I had to drop out. My mother was sick at the time. . ." _And that was the time when I met Riddick._

"Shoot. If you had had a college education that would have stacked the odds in our favor more. But you do have a high school diploma, right?"

"Yes, I did manage that."

"Okay, we'll use that, but a college graduate added to your list of pros would have more spice. However, don't worry. We have a very powerful case already. I don't want to get your hopes up, but we may be able to show such a strong front that they'll give Jack up without a fight."

"I truly hope so." Rakka said swallowing a lump in her throat. "Are you picking me up tomorrow?"

"Yes, at 9:00 sharp. The meeting is at eleven, but you don't know the traffic that Catica can build up in the morning. We need to make a good first impression with them by being there early and on time."

"Yes, I understand very well." She replied. "I better get going to if I want to do a little shopping."

* * *

She took a quick shower and brushed her hair out. She didn't have anything she would prefer to wear while shopping, but Riddick had stress that she brought nothing fancy or nice to wear when he brought her to Discu. He had probably thought that they would spend their whole time in the city living in the slums. It didn't matter now, she felt safer in Catica since it was considered alright for a woman to go by herself shopping.

She had lived in a large city her whole childhood and teen years and she knew the safety rules of traveling in a city. She slipped the check card into a purse she brought with her that can be zipped shut. She decided to wear a pair of clean jeans and a thin long sleeve shirt that was a bit too big for her since she wore it while she had been nine months pregnant with Jack. She tried tucking it into her pants, but it made the assets around her pelvis look unflattering, so she had to contend with it hanging loose untucked. She brushed her hair till it shown and tied it back into a long ponytail. She hadn't taken any makeup from her bathroom on Yari, so she had to go without.

The cab was waiting for her outside. She slid into the back and asked him to take her to a nice clothes shop. The driver took her to a corner shop called NICE FITS.

She walked inside and suddenly felt she was very under dress. The store offered everything from silk evening dresses to black tuxedos. Most of the shoppers were wearing clothes that looked as if they cost hundreds off the rack and she received a few looks.

Years ago, while she was still in college, she would have backed out of the store quietly and quickly as possible, but now today, with all her experiences behind her, she held her head up and walked into the store toward the women's sections.

She took her time studying the clothes and ignored any employees watching her, seeing if she was a would be shoplifter. She made her selections and headed to the dressing rooms.

As she was trying on a light blue dress, the lights suddenly went off and all she could see was darkness around her.

"Hey! Could someone turn the lights back on? I can't see!" She called out loud.

The lights came on and Riddick was standing in the stall with her. She would have screamed if his large hand hadn't cupped her mouth and squelching her scream into a chocked muffle.

"Don't scream." He ordered looking into her face. He was wearing his usual attire of black shirts, black pants, boots, and goggles. He also wore a dark brown cloak over his broad shoulders.

"Sorry, miss!" A voice called. "The lights just went off by them self. We're sorry about that."

He took her hand away and she said, "That's alright. It. . .just gave me a scare." Then she whispered. "Did anyone see you?"

"Naw. The lights were off, remember."

"Riddick, why are you. . . "

"I thought I told you not to go on a fuckin' shopping spree with my money." He hissed.

"I needed to get new clothes and other stuff." Rakka hissed back. "I can't go into the Court wearing jeans and an oversize sweatshirt."

"What's going on so far?" Riddick asked staring into her face.

"I went to the doctor and got a physical and a drug test. We have proof that I was pregnant and incase the want to fight, we can prove that I'm a good mother because I'm not a junkie. We're gonna meet with them tomorrow and we're hoping. . .hoping that they'll see reason and give Jack over."

"They're not gonna do that." Riddick shook his head.

"Why not?" Rakka asked swallowing hard.

"Dammit, if someone came up to you and say that your baby is theirs and they got all this fuckin' proof about, would you hand Jack over to them?"

Rakka swallowed a lump in her throat and said, "Riddick, I am Jack's true mother. They have no choice."

"They can choose to fight you. They can fuckin' choose to run away with him."

"No, they can't do that."

"There's no such thing as can't." Riddick replied evenly.

Rakka moaned and leaned against the wall. "Riddick, why do you have to be so damn pessimistic about everything?"

"Cuz I see everything." He replied. "I'm goin'."

"What? Wait, that's it?"

"What's it?"

"Usually when you surprise me like this, you want to get into my pants."

"Not this time." He muttered. "Get your shit together and leave. Turn off the lights on your way out."

She looked at him quizzically and he groaned and said, "I don't want the fuckin' seen leaving the damn changing room after you. If you don't know men ain't allowed in here."

"Oh, yeah, fine." She muttered. She wordlessly grabbed her selected clothes and exited the stall, making sure to slam it shut in Riddick's face before he could say anything more. She sought the switch for a second and flipped it off.

"Damn, it happened again." She heard someone said as she hurried away from the changing rooms. She didn't bother to look behind her and see if a large dark shape left the area.

She paid for her clothes with her check card and left the shop. She spent another hour shopping for shoes, makeup, and jewelry. She then took a cab to the local grocery and shop for food that would last her three days. If she needed more, she would buy more. She went back to the hotel and went to bed.

* * *

She woke up early the next morning and got ready. She wore her hair curled up and pined with a butterfly shape clip that had caught her eye. She chose to wear the light blue dress with matching shoes. She put on enough makeup to look decent. Light blush and eye shadow with light pink lipstick.

She headed down to the lobby at 8:45 and sure enough Yunn was pulling up in his hover. She stepped outside and headed for his hover. He unlocked the door for her.

"You look nice." He said as she slid inside.

"Thanks." She said feeling very nervous. "Are. . .are you still confident about our case?"

"Yes, very." He replied as he pulled the hover away from the curb. "Rakka, don't worry. If we sail a straight course, we're not going to loose."

"I can't help, but be scared." Rakka said. "I mean. . .it just seems unfair that my baby gets stolen and given away to a couple and I have to prove that I am a good mother to get him back."  
"Only if they fight to keep him." Yunn reminded her.

They managed to get to the Court by 10:30. Sure enough, as Yunn had predicted, the morning traffic was horrible as the hover could only move inch by inch long several lanes.

When they finally made it to the Court, he parked in his private parking space and got out. He led her to into the long halls and up several flights by elevator. They entered an assigned meeting room. It was a long, but narrow room with a long round table. They sat on one side across from the row of rolling chairs across from them.

"This is our assigned court for right now." Yunn explained to pass time. "Rooms like this is for small disagreements between neighbors or lawsuits against doctors. This is when they want to keep it private."

Rakka forced her head to nod as if she was finding everything he said very interesting, but her heart was pounding. What was going to happen? Will the Wilas give Jack up easily? Will they fight to keep him from her? They can't do that, but then. . .Riddick said that there's no such thing as can't.

The door opened, startling her. In walked a large black man with very dark skin. He wore a very expensive looking business suit and his hair was shaven very close to his head. He wasn't large from fat, but from height and muscle. Though he wasn't as bulky as Riddick, he didn't look as though he lifted weights. Beside him walked a smaller man wearing a white turban and a brown beard and eyes. He too wore an expensive looking business suit, but he didn't hold himself up like the large man did.

Power, money, and respect seemed to flow from the large black as he seated himself across from her. He resembled a great king sitting down on his throne. The other man sat down beside him and set a briefcase on the table beside him.

"You are Mrs. Laotaner, I presume." The large man said in a deep thick voice. His large deep brown eyes seemed to pierce through her.

"Yes, I am." She said looking back with her blue-violet ones. She knew the act so well. It was something Riddick did to her often, trying to intimate her with just his silvery eyes. Luckily for her, Riddick was better at it than he is. "And are you Mr. Wila?"

"Yes, I am. It appears that you believe that _our _child is your missing baby?"  
She did not like the way he said our. "Yes, I do, otherwise I would not be bothering you with my problems."

Yunn opened his own briefcase and lifted out a file. "This is a copy of the information we sent you, Mr. Wila. It will prove what we been saying."

"Excuse, but my name is Akil Abdul." The man with the turban interjected. "Yes, I have studied the information and we do agree and sympathized with Mrs. Laotaner's loss, but however, he does not prove that the baby, Matthew, that Azure Wila and his wife, Sia Wila adopted if her missing baby."  
"A blood test will confirm it." Yunn replied.

"And why should we agree to a blood test?" Mr. Wila asked.

Rakka felt her blood chilled in her veins, but Yunn kept talking. "To prove us wrong, if that is what you believe that we are. If the blood test proves that Rakka is not the mother, then we will leave you alone with an apology and not bother you again."

"And if she is the mother." Wila eyed her steadily.

"Then she will have every right to pursue legal custody of her baby which was stolen from her after she gave birth. Gentleman, did you by chance get the legal papers from Caring Charities stating that she signed him away, gave him up?"

Then for an instance, both men looked uncomfortable. Abdul looked very uneasy and said, "They were unable to. . .divulge that information. When we sent word that we needed the paperwork, they became very withdrawn."

"That's because they stole my baby." She said suddenly. "They stole my baby and when his skin white enough for them, they put him up for adoption."

Yunn touched her arm to draw her back. "We are unsure about the circumstances, but we do know that Mrs. Laotaner's baby was illegally taken from her and he somehow ended up in your care. Unless you can prove that she willingly put her child up for adoption and gave up any parental rights to him, then Rakka Laotaner has every right to gain custody of her child."

The men across from them were quiet for a moment and then Azure Wila began to speak, "Rakka Laotaner, what exactly do you want?"

Rakka furrowed her brows and said, "I want my baby back."

"No, I mean, how much?"

Her eyebrows arched. "How much?"

"Money. 10,000? 25,000? How much do you want? I'll give you a check right now if you swear not to bother my family again."

Rakka stared at him in shock. "Mr. Wila, I am NOT one of those women that go around blackmailing rich people for money over their babies! My baby, Jack, was stolen! He was taken from me after I got to hold him one time, one time I got to hold him. I woke up that morning and I was told that he was missing, I cried for one whole week nonstop. That was the most horrible week of my life and I have spent the last month worried sick about him. I didn't know if he was alive or dead. I didn't know if he was hurt or alright. You have no idea what it is to have your newborn child ripped away from you by people that just want to make a quick buck. The pain, the anger, the agony, I suffered since that horrible day when someone told me he wasn't in the nursery."

Rakka realized that tears had rolled down her cheeks and dripped onto to the front of her dress. She was suddenly embarrassed by her outburst and she was scared that she may have blown her chances.

Mr. Wila looked her in the eye and said, "That's true, but the thing is. . .we don't want to know what that is like."

"So I take it that we are going to have to enlist a judge, then aren't we?" Yunn asked.

"I believe so." Abdul replied.

"Very well. Should we set a time to meet again?" Yunn asked.

"Yes, the end of this week. My wife and I want this over with as quickly as possibly and PRIVATELY as possible."

"I'm sure that my client agrees." Yunn replied steadily. "I'm very sad that we couldn't come to a peaceful resolution."

"We feel the same way too." Abdul replied.

"So what happens now?" Rakka asked softly as they pulled out of the Court's parking lot.

"It means that since we were unable to resolve the issue between ourselves, we're going to let a judge decide the outcome. What that means is that we're gonna have to convince the judge that you have the right to take your child back, but they are going to have to prove you are an unfit mother that needs her parental rights to Jack terminated."

"Matthew. . .they changed his name to Matthew. . ." Rakka groaned.

"Jack must have been put down as a John Doe when they adopted him and gave him a name." Yunn said as he entered a lane and headed for her hotel. "Do you want me to take you back to your hotel or somewhere else?"

"Please take me back to the hotel, unless there's something I can do to help us?"

"Nothing you can DO, but what you can do is play it safe. Don't go out clubbing, drinking, buying drugs, or anything they can catch you doing. I've worked with powerful men and I know all the tricks and one of them is to hour an investigator to watch you and take incriminating pictures of you in public."

"They can do that?"

"Yes, if it supports their case against you." Yunn replied. "It's not against the law to take pictures of people in public or recordings either. And I want to tell you that you did fabulous in there. You really shook them hard."

"I'm so embarrassed about that." She said.

"No, no, no, you're going to need that passion if we're going to be in front of a judge. They expect you to be one of those mothers that put their child up for adoption and then blackmail rich parents to paying them money or they'll take back their children. They thought they could pay you to keep you off, but you sure as hell threw it back into their faces."

"You still think we have a good chance?"

"Why are you so nervous? And why do you keep asking me that? Yes, we still have a very good chance, in fact, I am willing to state my life's savings on it. They can't prove nothing about you giving up Jack and a blood test will prove that."

"They refused to consent to a blood test." Rakka replied,

"Trust me; any judge in their right mind is going to order a blood test in ANY custody case point blank."

* * *

Yunn dropped Rakka off at the hotel. She went to her room and changed into her casual wear. It was still early in the day, already 1:00 in the afternoon. The meeting didn't take as long as she had thought.

She wanted to feel that they accomplished something today, but however she could shake the feeling that something very bad was going to happen. She lay on her back on the bed and stared at the ceiling and just thought about the case.

Yunn was so confident that they were going to win it easily, but she felt that Mr. Wila was a man that was not use to loosing anything. And what of his wife? Why didn't she come? If Wila was the man she thought he was, then his wife must be one of those young trophy wives that were meant to sit around the mansion looking pretty at balls, parties, and outings and were suppose to be good in bed.

She suddenly didn't feel very well. She roll onto her side and managed to sleep. She woke up by the com beeping. She sat up forced the sleepiness from her eyes and picked it up.

"Hello?" She said hoping she didn't sound as sleepy as she was.

"Mrs. Laotaner?" Yunn's voice said over the line.

"Yes, Mr. Yunn." She checked the digital clock on the bed side table and realized it was 6:00 at night. She must have been really tired after all. "Is something wrong?"

"Well. . .we ran into a few. . .problems."  
She felt her blood chill and she forced herself to say, "Yes, what's going on?"

"Well, the most serious one is that the judge is going to be Judge Trison."

"I. . .don't understand."

"Well, he and Wila graduated high school together and even played on the same football team together."

"Oh, god, is he going to play favorites in this case?"

"He better not if he knows what's good for him." Yunn replied. "If he swings to Wila's side even we got enough evidence to gain custody, we can sue him for unlawful judgment in our case. He'll get sacked as a judge, but we'll have to resume the custody case all over again with a new judge."

"Right." She whispered.

"But this gives us all the more reason to make a very powerful case, so anything that can strengthen our case would be helpful."

"But we already got a strong case right?"

"Yes, we do. But making it stronger will help and that brings us to another problem, hopefully minor."

"What is that?"

"I tried getting in touch with your in-laws on Yari. I was thinking that if we can get them to testify on your behalf, to further prove you went through pregnancy and delivery and also to show that you have a very stable home would help make our case stronger, but so far no transmissions can get through to Yari."

"Is that serious? Not being to get in contact with a planet?"

"It's possibly just interference with a large ship or solar winds. Who knows maybe the planet's receptor is broken. Anyway, I'll try again tomorrow. I also have good news. We're doing the blood test."

"Great! When?"

"Tomorrow. An official will come to your room tomorrow morning to take a DNA sample. It'll be taken to the Court's lab and tested and we should get the results in the afternoon."

"So that's all? That's all we can do?"

"Well, that's all you can do. I'll be studying previous custody cases and setting up our case for presentation."

"Okay." Rakka said.

"I'll call you and tell you any updates or problems, okay?"

"Yes, please call me at ANY time. Day or night. I don't care if you wake me up or not."

"I understand and I will do that. Good night, Mrs. Laotaner."

"Goodnight."

She hung up the com.

* * *

The next day, she woke up and showered. At around 10:00, sure enough there was a knock on her door and outside was a official from the Court with a kit. The woman swabbed the inside of her mouth and placed the q-tip inside a little plastic container.

Rakka watch her leave and sighed. She couldn't get rid of this pit of dread inside her stomach. She decided to go and eat breakfast.

Riddick watched his woman leave the hotel. He watched from the darkness, his territory and most familiar ally, an alley. He took note that she was walking across the street to a restaurant.

He kept his eyes on her, until he took notice of someone else watching her too. He was a man wearing a long trench coat and a wide brim hat. The words private investigator should have been written all over him.

Riddick left the alley and walked calmly, as if he was part of the crowd. The people around him instantly gave him space to walk. There was something about the air around Riddick that seemed to command fear and respect from any strangers.

Rakka entered the restaurant and could be seen through a large pane window waiting in line to order. He investigator paused on the other side of the street away from the restaurant and took out a small digital camera.

Riddick quickened his step as the man began snapping photos of Rakka through the window. As he drew close, he slung his arm around the man's shoulders startling him and pulling him into an alley. Any other person would have suspected that they were friends messing around with each other.

Riddick threw the man against the wall and pinned him there with a thick arm across his chest. The man stared at him shocked and frightened. Riddick leaned into his face and said, "I think the lady's gone into charging for photos, asshole."

Riddick shoves his free hand into the pants pocket and withdrew a wallet. Riddick wanted him to think he was a common mugger. It'll keep any suspicion off any ties to Rakka. Riddick also grabbed the camera and that was when the man's courage showed itself.

"You can't take that." The man muttered as he struggled to regain the camera.

Riddick let go of it, but punched the man across the jaw. He yelp and nearly fell onto the pavement. Riddick took this chance to dash into the alley, before the man could recover. It pained Riddick to run from a possible fight, but right now he needed to stay low as possible, yet watch Rakka.

He disappeared into an abandoned building through a crack in the foundation. When the man recovered several seconds later, he looked around frantic and began swearing. Riddick surrounded himself within the security of the darkness.

He studied the camera and opened the back. There was a previous recording of different times. Out of sheer curiosity, he opened the files. On the back of the camera a small screen lit up and a selection of images appeared. They were all of Rakka, but at different times.

There was a row of her back on Yari when she was about to pop. She was wearing a black dress and was at Terry's funeral. The next selections were of her in Discu within the hangar after they got off the skiff. He switched over to another page and sure enough there were photos of her standing on a staircase within Nikki and Midge's brothel.

"What the fuck?" He whispered staring at the images.

There was no way this man was hired by Wila, no way at all. Wila didn't even know Rakka existed until two days ago. Wait, what about Dr. Turner? Could she have had someone follow Rakka and take pictures? If that is the case, then why continue to follow Rakka after she given birth?

Riddick thought real hard. The men he had questioned and tortured to get the information of Jack's location seemed to be taken by surprise. If they already knew that she was on the planet, then they would have known about him too. It didn't make sense that they would continue to just take pictures of Rakka.

He studied the photos and in each photo, Rakka was the main interest. Why? There were a few with him, but it was cut off the edge of the photo or Rakka took up the whole image.

It didn't make sense, no sense at all. The man, wasn't working for Wila, nor was he working for Caring Charities, so who was he working for? He wasn't Hitomian. . .but then again . . .

Riddick checked outside and the man was gone. Damn, should have questioned him after all. He checked to make sure Rakka was fine. She was sitting at a counter eating alone, fine and safe. . . for now.

He stuffed the camera into his pocket, clearly angry with himself. He had missed something. Terry's funeral was months ago, someone had been tracking Rakka for months. Fuck it! He usually didn't miss anything like this. He had been too lax too he returned to Yari, too at ease. Shit!

He started up carefully along a crumbling staircase mentally cursing himself. Something was wrong with him. . .it had to be because of having kids with that woman.

He stepped off the stairs and headed for the far window. The floor was cluttered with overturned desks, papers, folders, comp vids and other shit that dictated that this building.

Fucking bitch. That goddamn motherfucking bitch. Pulling him into more fucking shit. Had to get knocked up, had to leave him in hell, and then get fucking knocked up again, Goddamn, motherfucking whore. . .he should have slit her worthless throat that dark night he met her. . .he would have if he wasn't so interested in the fact she was a possible fuck.

He stepped at the window, the darkness shadowing him from any eyes that could look in his direction. He got an easy view of Rakka eating her meal from the window. All he ever wanted, the only thing he ever asked of this cesspool of a universe was to be left the hell alone. Just left alone to live and die like anything else.

_"But you aren't like anything else."_

Fuck it. . . the voice that he once thought was his conscience was back. "You said you was gonna leave me alone." He whispered.

_"At that moment, I did. Rakka wanted the same thing too. She too wanted to be spared the tribulations, but it was you that reentered her life. You are accountable for her breeding as she is, more so infact."_

"Get the fuck out of my head." He growled savagely.

His only response was a soft twitter of laughter. She was the only person/thing that he couldn't scare away no matter how hard he tried. However, she did leave his mind and he received no more intruding speech.

* * *

Rakka returned to the hotel full, and a few wrapped sandwiches for lunch later. She watched the vid for two or three hours, not paying any attention to what she was watching. Her mind kept going to Jack and the case.

Yunn's confidence could affect her in the least. She should be thrilled and happy, yet she felt that something was going to happen. It picked at her like picking at a scab. She wondered if Riddick felt the same way as she does? She wanted to get in touch with him, or see him. She felt so alone and so vulnerable. She didn't realize how being around Riddick made her feel safe.

What about her feelings toward him? She could talk with him about it, dammit all. She actually wanted him around, she didn't want him to leave her at all. He was going back to the Necromongers despite what she wanted.

What's to stop her from following him?

She felt her heart stop for a beat and she felt so flushed. She still had Roland to consider. There was no way he would consider leaving the home he had lived in his entire life. Leave his friends, his school, and change his life to travel across space with Necromongers. . . in fact, it was something she didn't want to do herself at all. It was so confusing and frustrating to not know what she wanted from Riddick.

Then she suddenly had a horrifying thought about Jack. What if. . . what if the baby that Riddick had believed to be Jack wasn't really Jack at all? What if it's the wrong baby entirely?

Oh god, her baby could still be out there?

She nearly screamed as the com rang. She almost leapt from the couch and ran to the com by her bed. She fumbled with it and finally accepted the call.

"Hello?"

"Rakka, this is Yunn. I'm calling about the test results."

Her heart beat it hard it hurt. "And?"

"He's your baby alright. The test proved what we already knew."

She felt as if a heavy rock had just been dissolved in her stomach. "He is?"

"Yes, you're definitely his mother. What? Were you afraid that there was a mistake?"

"For a little while, yes." Rakka admitted.

"Look, we now have solid proof that Jack belongs with you. But we still got a small hitch, though."  
"What?"

"I still haven't been able to get in touch with anybody on Yari."

"Really?"

"It's probably nothing, but that means we won't be able to prove that Jack was stolen from you. However, they can't prove that you willingly gave up him up either."

"So it's like a draw."

"Not really. We got more guns on our side if you want to think of it that way."

"So when is the hearing?"

"Tomorrow. In the morning."

"So soon. . . "

"Yes, they wanted to get this settled quickly and I suppose so do you."

"Only if it gets me Jack back."

"We will, don't worry."

* * *

But Rakka still worried. The pit inside her stomach kept her from sleeping that night. When she woke up that morning, she felt terrible. Her throat was sore and she had a headache. She took a warm bathe hoping it'll make her feel better, but it didn't. She even threw some clothes on and went downstairs to the hotel's mini-store and bought some medicine.

It helped, but not much. She hoped she wasn't running a fever. She took a cool shower hoping it'll make her better before she got ready for the court hearing. She chose a light violet colored dress with matching pumps. Because of her eyes, purple always looked good on her and she wanted to look her best for the judge to at least win a little of his favor over. She wore her hair down and loose about her shoulders and chose her makeup carefully.

She headed downstairs early and sure enough Yunn was parked and ready to pick her up.

* * *

Riddick waited outside the Court building within the parking lot. Not too long later, Yunn's hover parked in his private space. Rakka got out looking very desirable in his eyes. She walked around the hover and followed Yunn inside the building. Riddick took note.

He decided to wait here. If Rakka came back looking happy, then they won. If not. . . Riddick will burn that bridge down when he came to it.

* * *

The judge was a large man with very tanned skin. He had a very dark mustache trimmed very neatly as was his dark hair. He sat at the head of the table and he even held a gravel in his hand.

"Hello, I assume you are Mrs. Laotaner and her lawyer Yunn?" He asked in a voice that suggested a bit of an accent.

"Yes, I am." Rakka replied as she took her seat across from Mr. Wila and Abdul. Yunn seated beside and faced the two men as a warrior looking down his enemies.

The Judge sifted through some files and said, "You know the court favors reunions between biological parent and child. And that is possible if Laotaner is proven a fit mother, but if she isn't, then I will have to place baby Matthew under the custody of Wila and his wife."  
Rakka felt incense at them calling Jack by a different name. She swallowed back her anger and straightened.

"Now if you gentlemen willing to begin, we will start the arguments." The Judge set and Rakka swore she saw him give Wila a quick smile.

Before either lawyer could open their cases or speak, the door was opened. They looked up and a small man with tan colored hair. He wore a suit, but it was wrinkled as if he had gone outside and done several exercises outside before coming in. However, he was panting as if he had ran a great distance and in his hand was gripped a com.

Judge Trison stood from his head seat and said, "Johnson, you better have a very good excuse for interrupting one of MY hearings!"

The man looked very pale and scared, but not of Judge Trison. He held up the com and said, "Sir, it is very serious that you take this call."

"If it's my wife, tell her I'll call her when I get out of this." Judge Trison growled.

"No, it's not your wife, sir. . . it's. . .the High Council of Helion. . .They want to talk to you about. . .this case."

Rakka stared at him, not sure that she had heard him correctly. The other men looked the same way as she felt that she did. She tried to think about how the Helion System's High Council would be interested in a planet outside their own System. She tried to think about it. . .

"Johnson, if this is some joke?" Judge Trison said with a tremor of anger in his voice.

"I wish it was, sir, I really wish it was. They want to speak with you _right this instant _they said."

Judge Trison swallowed and said, "Very well, I'll take it in my office." He looked at them around the table and said, "I'll try to sort this out quickly and be right back with you."

They watched him walk around the table and leave the hearing room. Rakka quickly turned to Yunn and said, "Why would the Helion system haven an interest in this planet? I thought it wasn't apart of them."

"We aren't, but the companies that first set of the colony on this planet came from them, so in a way we are indebted to them and we are an ally. But what gets me is why the High Council of Helion would in be interested in a custody hearing at all."

Wila and Abdul were whispering quietly to each other. It seemed that they were wondering the same thing themselves. Rakka licked her lips and suddenly felt very scared.  
"Yunn is this going to affect our case?" Rakka whispered.

"I don't know. This came out of nowhere." He replied.

Rakka exhaled a long breath, but it didn't help at all. Something huge was happening and she didn't know. She felt as if she was taking that long step into deep water and there was no going back now, not ever.

Several minutes later, Judge Trison came back into the room. He silently walked around and took his seat at the head of the table. "Um. . . I really don't know how to tell you this."

"What is it, Tanner?" Wila said leaning forward.

"It's been taken completely out of my hands." Trison replied. "I just received orders from the Helion High Council and our planet's presidential cabinet to restore custody to Rakka Laotaner as of immediately."

Everyone stared at the man shocked. Rakka felt several moments when she just wasn't there anymore. She felt transparent and empty as a glass pitcher of water. She won. . .she was getting her baby back. . . yet. . .

"What?" Wila said shocked. "Tanner!"

"Friend, I am so sorry, but they said that if I refused. . .it could result in an interstellar war that our planet cannot afford."

Wila looked pale. . .his face looked almost the color as Riddick's. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ask Mrs. Laotaner. Obviously she has friends in. . .very high places."

All eyes were on her. Yunn was giving her a betrayed look as if she had been holding out at him. Abdul was staring at her as if she presented herself as a formidable opponent, and Wila was staring at her as if she had grown a second head.

She swallow and said, "When do I get my baby back?"

"Now. Wila, there are. . .authorities heading to your home. I told them that you would hand the child over peacefully and that you and your wife would need time to. . .let go. But they are very impatient and insist that the child is returned to Laotaner before tonight."

Wila still looked as if he had been punched in the gut. "I. . .I need to call my wife. It'll be best if she hear from me than someone else."

"Rakka will be on her way to pick her up her child." Judge Trison said. "Again, I am sorry. I wish there was something I can do, but it's been torn from my hands."

"I. . .I understand." Wila stood and said, "Mrs. Laotaner. . .I had thought that I could. . .smash you like the bug that I believed you to be. . .but it turned out. . .you were a fierce lioness hiding her claws and fangs to bear them and at the last moment to tear out throats."

Rakka couldn't reply and couldn't think of anything in response. She could only watch him leave the court room to call his life and tell them that they lost their child to a strange woman.


	52. Revelations

"I guess we won." Yunn commented. "But not in the way I imagined."

Abdul leaned back into his chair and replied, "The battle was decided before we got to draw our swords."  
"That is so true." Yunn replied. He pushed himself away from the table and picked up his case. "Rakka, do you want me to drive you to the mansion. We can get Jack now."

"Yes. . .yes." Rakka said still feeling numb. She should be happy about getting Jack back, but she still felt ebbing terror freezing her insides. Why would a powerful government as the Helion High Council be concerned about her problems?

She stood and left the court room with Yunn. She followed him back to the parking lot to his hover. However, there was someone already there by the hover.

It was a woman, a female Hitomian. She wore a white military like uniform that clung to her small shapely frame. She held a sword at her hip and a large gun at her other hip. Her eyes were a chestnut brown and her hair was light blonde and braided into a long, long, thick braid down her back.

She bowed at the waist to Rakka as she approached and said, "Madam, if you'll come with me, we'll be taking you the Wila estate to retrieve Jack."

"Who are you?" Rakka asked staring at the shorter woman.

"Captain Hera. Captain of the Guard. I was sent by the Old Queen." The woman even saluted

Rakka stared at her. "No, I. . .I'll ride with Yunn."

Yunn held an odd expression on his face as he glanced between both women. Riddick ease out of the shadows like a chameleon throwing off its disguise.

"Riddick!" Rakka exclaimed, very happy to see him.

However, the woman smiled at him in greeting. "Ah, Mr. Riddick. I was afraid that I wouldn't find you. You are welcomed to come as well."

Riddick stared at the small woman and said, "Who sent you?"

"The Old Queen. . .who was once the last of the Hitomian's ruling family, but is no longer."

Rakka felt something slither through Riddick. She didn't know what, but she felt something tug at him. It was there for only a quick second, and then it was gone.

"I thought the whole Hitomian Royal Family was killed from the Necromonger attack." Riddick said.

Rakka stared at him. What did he know about the Hitomian's ruling family? And how does he know more than her? Her parents NEVER mentioned anything about the Hitomian Royal Family to her.

"They almost were killed off. However, one survived and another one has been found." Hera replied.

Rakka stared at them. They were talking to each other and they were also understanding each other. Yet she couldn't for the life of her understand exactly what they were talking about.

"I'm coming with her." Riddick said.

"Very well, we prefer it that way." Hera replied. "If you would follow me to the limousine?"

She turned with her hands behind her back and headed down further into the parking lot. Rakka stared at Riddick and he took her arm and guided her with him. She turned her head and said, "Mr. Yunn, thanks for everything. I really appreciate everything that you've done for me."

Yunn watched her leave and shrugged, "I didn't exactly do anything to help you, Mrs. Laotaner."  
Before she could assure him that he did help, Riddick somewhat shoved her with him out of the parking lot. Outside was a large white limousine guarded by several men wearing the same uniforms fashioned after Hera's guarding it.

Hera opened the door and she got inside and Riddick followed her. They were both seated side by side and they couldn't look more different and incompatible. She was wearing her violet dress and looked as she was. Just came out of a business meeting while Riddick was dressed in his favored black clothes and looking like he should be in a Slam or a gang. No one would believe that these two have had repeatedly had sex and had two children between them. The limo pulled away from the parking station and down the road.

"Riddick, what is happening?"

"You tell me." Riddick said looking at her. "How we get our kid back?"

"Yes." Rakka replied. "The. . .The High Council from Helion told the judge to give me custody or else there. . .would be a war."

"Shit." Riddick growled.

"Riddick, do you have something to do with this?"

"No." He replied and leaned against the seat.

"What do we do?" Rakka asked.

"We go with it for now, but watch 'em." Riddick replied.

Rakka stared at him and said, "There's something you're not telling me. You know something."

"I don't know shit." He lied.

"Yes, you do." Rakka snapped. "Tell me."

"You wouldn't believe me."

"Try me."

Riddick leaned twisted around and stared at her. "I don't think you could handle it."

"Handle what?" Rakka asked to hit him until he spoke. "Is it because I have blue-violet eyes?"

"Partly." Riddick replied.

"You told the Hitomians and they responded. I guess it's taboo to take away a Blessed Child's baby?"

"Maybe." Riddick responded.

"Riddick, tell me. If it concerns me or my baby, then I have to know."

"You're gonna find out soon enough."

"I rather hear it from you."

"Alright, here's a hint. It's something that your daddy shoulda you, but he didn't."

"What the hell does that mean?" Rakka snapped.

"Think about it." Riddick replied and wouldn't say anymore.

The limo pulled up outside a huge gate surrounding an exquisite mansion. It was done in mostly white marble, terraces, and vines. The driver got out of the limo and moved around to open the door for them, but Riddick had already gotten out and Rakka was following after him.

Many police vehicles were surrounding the mansion, but there was no guns being held or lights flashing. They were just there incase the Wilas didn't comply to the order.

Riddick tensed when he saw the police. Rakka looked at him and said, "Maybe you should wait in the limo, just incase."

She couldn't see his eyes, but she could tell he was staring at the cops milling around. Without a word, he turned and reentered the limo and shut the door behind him. Wow. Riddick actually listening to her. Something huge had to be happening for him to act this way.

"This way, ma'am."

She looked up away from the limo's closed door and saw a maid standing behind beside. She must really be out of it for someone to approach her and surprised her so easily. "Yes."

She followed the maid to the mansion's glass front doors which were opened for her by the maid. The inside was as lavished as the outside. The floor was smooth tile and everything looked very, very expensive. The maid led her through the foyer and into a main room.

Inside was the biggest fireplace Rakka had ever seen. It was large enough for Riddick to walk inside without bending his head down at all. It seemed to made of granite and wasn't lit at this time. Rakka was sure that if they started a fire, it would be a huge inferno. In front of the fire place was large couch with a dining table near it. On it was a woman holding a baby. . .Jack. . .gently in her arms.

Rakka's first instinct was to rush across the den and take her child into her arms from this woman. However, Rakka forced herself to be calm and allow the maid to lead. As she drew nearer, she could hear the woman humming to the child.

The woman was black also, though her skin was not as dark as her husbands. She wore an elegant dress and her hair was smooth down her scalp. She looked up at Rakka as she approached.

"You must be Math. . . Jack's mother." The woman said in a very strained voice.

Rakka nodded. "Yes, I am."

The woman stared at her and she stared back. This possibly lasted a minute, maybe longer. Then the woman held Jack close to her chest and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead and then she handed him to Rakka.

Rakka forced herself not to shake as she took Jack into her arms to be held him for the second. He indeed had Riddick's skin color, a rich caramel color. She understood why Caring Charities wouldn't take him as a white baby. He was asleep and was dress in a white baby smoke that looked as if it was made of silk.

"Hey, Jack. . .hey baby." She whispered as she held him so close to her chest. She ran her thumb over his tiny fingers and inhaled his sweet baby scent.

"We. . .we have a few of his things here." The woman said softly and it was starting crack. "Just so. . .he won't get scared. . .when he wakes up in a new place. . ."

Rakka stared into her eyes that were tearing up. She felt warm tears well in hers. She was hurting this woman. This woman had been a mother to Jack for the last two weeks, had loved, fed him, rocked him, and even hummed a song to him. She no doubt had look forward to watching him take his first step, hearing his first word, and first day of school.

"Mrs. Wila. . . I am so sorry about this whole thing." Rakka said feeling the tears roll down her cheeks. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"I know." The woman said and ran her hands down her face. "I. . . I would have fought you for him, you know. If 'they' hadn't intervened."

"I would have fought too." Rakka reminded her.

"I guess. . .you better go now. . . before I loose my nerve and start screaming." The woman said looking away.

Rakka didn't say anything. She wanted to ask for the woman's name, but she knew better. She simply turned and walked out of the den. The maid picked up the case that the woman had prepared and carried it behind her.

As Rakka exited the glass doors, she heard a sound behind her deep within the house. It was soft and pitiful, and it made a sob choke in Rakka's throat. It was the sorrowful cry of a mother who just lost her baby.

Rakka cradled Jack close to her chest as she headed to the limo with the maid on her heels. The maid almost had to jog forward to open the door for her. Rakka slipped inside beside Riddick. Riddick scooted over to give her room.

"Riddick, I have him." She said holding Jack out to him.

Riddick stared at the sleeping baby and said, "You trust me not to hand him over to some baby thief?"  
"Riddick, just hold your son." Rakka groaned.

Riddick's large hands took Jack from Rakka's. He held Jack close to him and the month old opened his eyes. He stared up at his father with chocolate brown eyes and made a soft 'ahh' sound.

"Say hi to Daddy, Jack." Rakka said as continued to stroke his tiny hand.

Jack made a small whimper followed by a rather loud coo. His tiny hands clutched into strawberry size fists as he shifted in Riddick's hands.

Riddick passed Jack back to Rakka and as she took him back into her arms, Jack's face screwed up and a small 'ahh' escaped from his cherub lips. It was soon followed by a growing wail and then a choke cry.

"Oooohhh. . . oh, oh…." Rakka said trying to comfort him. She wondered if he had been fed lately or had been changed. She was his mother and she didn't even know his daily habits yet. She checked his diaper and he was dry. "Riddick, if it doesn't bother you, I'm going to see if he's hungry."

"Go ahead, and pop a tit." Riddick responded.

Rakka gave him a hard look as she began to unbutton her top. She was sure that there was bottled full of formula in the case, but she wanted to start bonding with her son as soon as possible. She shifted her bra cup aside and held Jack close enough to her nipple. He continued to scream, refusing her nipple. His small fists and screaming face made him look furious. Rakka kept holding her breast with one hand and guiding the nipple to his mouth. "Here it is baby, here it is."

"He knows its there, he just don't want it." Riddick intruded.

"Riddick, let me handle this." Rakka snapped as she kept being persistent with Jack who kept refusing. His cried grew louder and louder as he became angry as Rakka was becoming frustrated.

"You're force feeding him. He don't want it."

"Riddick, I can do this."

"I don't think he's hungry."

"Why else would he be crying?"

"Lemme have 'im." Riddick's large hands appeared around Jack.

Rakka wasn't prepared to give up her bonding time with Jack, but she relented and Jack was passed back to Riddick. His cries instantly quieted into dull whimpers as he was enfolded in a thick arm.

"Hand me a bottle." Riddick ordered.

"Riddick, he just made it obviously clear that he's not hungry." Rakka replied haughtily.

"Jes do it." Riddick snapped.

Rakka sighed and unzipped the case. Inside was many neatly folded clothes, little toys and stuff animals, and there was a small case of bottles with white formula. She hefted one out of the case, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Riddick. Riddick offered the nipple to Jack who accepted and began to suck hungrily.

Rakka stared at the father and son bonding. "I don't understand. . .Roland never had any problems breastfeeding."

"I guess Jack here likes it straight from the bottle." Riddick replied shifting to get comfortable.

A soft knock on the window startled Rakka. She quickly buttoned up her top and then she turned to roll down the window. Hera was standing outside bending down to talk to her. "We'll be taking you to Yugo station. There's a shuttle ready to take you to the Old Queen's Titania."  
"Titania?"

"Her private ship." Hera replied. "She's been wanting to see you, for a very long time."

"I don't understand. Queen of the Hitomians?"

"Yes, she heard of you problems with loosing your son and having to fight to get him back. She spoke. . .quite harshly. . . with the Helion High Council, giving them a somewhat. . . unreasonable. . . ultimatum."

Rakka stared at her. "You mean either have the Wilas return Jack or she'll declare war on this planet?"

"Yes, I am afraid so. The Old Queen can be. . .may the Sight forgive. . .quite bullheaded. The Helion system had no room to argue with her since they are still suffering from the Necromonger attack. They deemed it that it would be best for one family to loose their child than have a massacre such as the Necromongers' attack."

"But I thought the Hitomian race was scattered, almost destroyed."

"True, true, but is has been more than 40 years since then. We have had more than enough time to regroup and reemerge since the Necromongers are no longer doing their blasphemous conversions. No offense, Lord Marshal."

Riddick looked up and he didn't seem surprised at all. "I take it that you know everything that has happened?"

"Not all the details, but we hope you would fill in some blanks, if possible." Hera replied.

Again Rakka felt like a child that was unable the topics that the adult are talking about. "The Old Queen wants to see us?"

"Yes, but she mainly wants to meet with you, Rakka. She has been waiting a very long time."

Rakka shook her head and said, "I don't understand."

"You don't know." Hera said with shock glazing across her face.

"Don't know what?" Rakka snapped. "What is it that I don't know?"  
Riddick leaned forward, he removed the bottle from a tired Jack's mouth and set it on the seat between him and Rakka. He began rolling up the window and said, "Ya might better lemme tell her."

The last Rakka saw of Hera as the window rolled up was her nodding at Riddick. Another childish feeling rolled through and made her angry. The limo took off from the Wila estate while Riddick went back to feeding Jack before he could start getting fussy about the absent of the bottle.

"Riddick, tell me." Rakka commanded through her teeth.

"Lemme finish feeding Jack." Riddick replied turning his complete attention to the child.

"Riddick. . ."  
"Rakka, dammit." Riddick turned his head to glare at her through his goggles. "What I gotta tell ya is big, fucking huge, and you are gonna get piss off at me and I rather I wasn't holdin' a baby while dealing with a mad bitch."  
Rakka glared at him and her heart started beating so hard beneath her breast. What does Riddick have to tell her that would make him so concerned? She remembered the hint he gave her about her father. What was it her father didn't tell her before he died? Does it have something to do with this Old Queen?

Rakka felt her fear creep within her as she watched Riddick finish feeding Jack. "You need to burp him."

"He ain't done."  
"I know, but you have to stop and burp a baby every now and then or they'll get gassy and cranky. They can also get uncomfortable if you don't do it."

"Do it." Riddick replied removing the bottle from Jack's lips.

Rakka reached over to lift Jack into her hands, but he began to whine as she heft him into her arms. She reached into the case and grabbed a soft towel and hung it over her shoulder. Jack was held to her shoulder and she began to pat him on the back. A soft belch emitted from him. She lowered him and began to unbutton her top again.

"Rakka, what are you doing?" Riddick groaned.

"I want to try again." She shoved her bra cup aside and offered Jack her nipple. He began to whine as the unwanted nipple was shoved into his face. "Jack, come on. . . "

Again, Riddick reached over and took Jack from her. "Rakka, he doesn't want tit." He gave Jack the bottle's nipple which he accepted again greatly.

Rakka huffed as she button up her blouse again and crossed her arms. "Who the hell are you? The baby whisperer?"

"Rakka, he just fuckin' met you after a month. He don't know who you are, yet." Riddick replied.

Rakka watched Riddick feeding her baby with jealousy and helped him settle Jack into the baby car seat which had been setup beforehand. Jack settled into his seat and seemed bright and happy to stare ahead at his parents. Rakka would have love nothing more, but to use this time to play with Jack, touch his hands and feet and talk to him, and even wave toys at him, but she had more pressing matters on her mind.

"Riddick, tell me."  
Riddick reclined against the seat and twisted his large body to face her. "Remember years ago, back on Echo."

"Yes, with those Hitomians, Noa, Io, and Sunna." Rakka replied.

"While I was out, I went to a bar and talked with a bartender. He told me shit that happened to the Hitomian Royal family. About how they were supposed to have been killed during the attack."

"Okay." Rakka said waiting for when it starts to come back to her.

"While we were still on that Rock, I went around and got together information about it. And you know what? There was one survivor of the Royal Family from the attack." Riddick watched her reaction, but she had none to give, yet. "He made it onto an escape vessel and made it to Haven where he met another Hitomian, a woman. They got married and lived an average life within the City." Riddick continued to stare at her and Rakka could only stare back. "Rakka, they had a kid, a girl."

Rakka leaned against the seat of the limo, feeling the numbness take her like icy cold water.

Riddick just studied her and continued, "The survivor was at the time of the attack the Prince of the Laotaner Royal Family, his name was Luac. And since he's dead and I guess that makes you the Hitomian Royal Princess since they got this queen thing going already."

Rakka was frozen on the seat, her body immobile. Her mind seemed to have left her body and was watching all three of them from the top of the limo. Jack cooing happily to himself, Riddick watching her, and her body laying back on the leather seat numb and unable to move.

"There is no way." Rakka whispered.

"I checked it out. Adrian did his own little search and confirmed it with evidence. Your Dad didn't tell you that he was a prince that didn't bother to return home to the castle."

Rakka ran her hands over her face in sheer shock. What did this mean now? Was she going to be shipped off to some castle on some planet where a crown would be placed on her head and a scepter in her hand? Was she going to be expected to rule? She can't rule, she only had a high school diploma! What if she gets involved with taxes, executions, rebellions, inflation, and wars? How the hell was she going to handle that with just a fucking High School diploma? She HATED economics! There was no way she could handle a nation's economy!

Roland! Jack! If she's a princess, then they were princes! Oh God in Heaven, help her! How would she explain this Roland? That they were going to move to some castle somewhere. Oh, she was sure that he would get a better education and get so much more than she could have given him on the Yari Colony, but then he'll get spoiled! Jack will grow up spoiled! Oh, Sweet Jesus, they were going to grow up to ride around in cars, rape women walking on the side of the road, and get killed by being impaled on pipes! Riddick. . .

Riddick! He knew! He fucking knew about this for fucking years! She turned her rage and shock onto him. She felt her face screw up into a face twisted with rage and hate.

"You. . .you KNEW about this. . .FOR YEARS!" She yelled.

Riddick nodded, not fazed at all by her rage.

"How dare you not tell me!" She shouted. "How dare you look me the face! Touch me all these years without telling me!"

"Just like this, bitch." Riddick ran a finger down her cheek with a rough finger.

That was it. Her sanity was thrown out the window. She lunged at Riddick, her fist beating him. He accepted her assault with restraining hands. He caught her wrists and he _grinned _at her, actually _grinned _at her as if he was about to laugh at her. This gave her the fuel, the adrenaline, she needed to wrench one hand free from his grip and rake her nails down his cheek leaving red lines.

Riddick threw her from him and her back hit the limo's door and she was surprised that it wasn't thrown open by the impact. However, her head hit the glass, making her see stars. Her hands were seized and pinned above her head and a large hand gripped her throat. She opened her eyes to see Riddick glaring into her face, his nose inches from hers. His goggles were above his eyes and silvery orbs gleamed rage at her.

She should have either been still terrified or enraged, but some for profound reasons she was thinking, _"Jack is one laid back kid, not to be screaming about this."_

"The reason why I didn't fuckin' tell ya is because one: you wouldn't have believe, and second: I thought it was safer for you not to know. The Hitomians nearly fucked you over on Echo and I didn't want 'em to find ya if you went blabbin' 'bout you being a fucking princess. I never told anyone about this, this is the first time I told anyone 'bout you being a princess, Adrian figured it out for himself and I made him get rid of the evidence so as not to expose you."

He flung himself away from her and she nearly slumped onto floorboard. He reclined back into his previous position, glaring at her as she shakily rubbed her neck. She felt her eyes tearing up. . .

Riddick roughly grabbed the back of her neck and yanked her to him. He hissed into her ear, "Don't start cryin' buckets on me now. You let Jack do that for you later."

She couldn't stop even if she wanted too. The tears rolled down her cheeks and she whispered, "Let go of me now, Riddick." His grip tightened on her and he seemed to be pulling her closer to him. "Let me go now, Riddick. I'll order them to put you in prison, if you don't."

Her hair was snared and her head was yanked back. Riddick breath blew lightly on her face as he growled, "You damn cock sucking bitch. You try pulling little spoil princess act with me, I will put you on your knees one last time before I slit your throat while you choke on it."

She closed her eyes and refused to look at him. Something rough rubbed her cheeks and she realized it was Riddick wiping away her tears. He continued talking, "If you wanna cuss me out and go a second round with me, then we'll do it later, but right now don't make a scene in front of these people, alright? Being a leader is lot like being in a Slam. You show weakness and people loose respect. I'm right there. Nothing ain't gonna happen to you without me lettin' it."

He finally let go of her hair and she instantly moved away from him, despite him tugging at her arm to pull her back. She reached out for Jack and lifted him from his car seat and cradled him close to her chest. She didn't like herself using Jack as a comfort doll, but she felt like screaming if she didn't.

She huddled on the other side of the seat, as far from Riddick as she could. "You lied to me, Riddick, you lied to me and hurt me. I want you gone, as soon as everything is alright with me and the kids, I want you gone, and I want you to leave and LET the door hit you in the ass on the way out." Riddick settled against the seat, but his face was on her. "I mean it Riddick, I don't want you around MY kids, I don't want you to touch me, I don't want you even around me. When this shit is taken care of, I want you gone, and this time stay the fuck away from me."

Riddick looked at her and said, "Since when did I ever care about what you wanted?"


	53. Old Queen

They rode the rest of the way to the station with no furthers words spoken between them. Rakka cradle Jack to sleep after humming a soft song to him. Riddick, thankfully, had nothing further to say to her. The limo was escorted to the station where the door was opened for her. She stepped out with Jack asleep in her arms and the case strapped to her back. Riddick got out through the other side and walked around.

They were escorted by an armed guards and Hera through the parking lot and into the station. Many passengers, tourists, businessmen, or pilgrims stopped talking, eating, arguing, and watched the armed people escorting a couple with a baby to a first class lobby where their shuttle was being prepped.

"Highness, why don't you. . . " Hera started.

"Please, don't call me that." Rakka interjected quickly.

Hera hesitated for a beat and then continued, "please, rest here. The shuttle is still prepped and searched before we can allow you passage to the Titania."  
"Searched?" Rakka asked and Riddick lifted his head as this caught his attention.

"Just routine." Hera quickly said, but too quickly for Rakka's liking.

"What is being searched for?" She asked stiffly. "Bombs?"

Hera swallowed and she said, "I am not at liberty to say. But all will be made clear to you by the Old Queen."

Before Rakka could force her to say anymore, she turned and walked away. Rakka looked around and noted the guards at all the entrances and exits. There were even some standing around her and Riddick. She felt very nervous and she looked up at Riddick. He too was looking around and studying at all the doorways.

"Riddick. . ." She whispered. "Do you know anything about this?"

Riddick didn't reply. She knew him well enough to know that he memorizing all the way ins and outs of the area, incase they were needed in a hurry.

Her legs were tired and she felt more comfortable sitting than stand while holding a baby, she took the liberty of sitting on a leather padded bench while the prepped the shuttle. She kept her attention on Jack for the twenty minutes it took for them to finish. She refused to give Riddick any of her attention unless she had to. She wouldn't even look at him unless he happened to be in her line of vision.

When the shuttle was ready, she and Riddick were led onto the loading ramp. The shuttle was surprisingly looked like a first class shuttle. The seats were well padded for comfort and the floor was carpeted within the passenger area. There was even classical music playing from over head speakers.

She sat in a leather padded chair and curled up with Jack against her. Riddick settled into a large armchair near her, and she bristled with unseen anger. She clutched Jack tighter to her and he made a soft complaint and she relented. There was a small kick as the shuttle picked off the ground and ascended into the atmosphere.

Hera was standing at the exit of the passenger side and began to speak to them, "As soon as the shuttle lands within the Titania, I'm sure that you'll want to be shown to your room. We already have prepared for you and it is also fitted with a nursery for the baby. I'm sure that you will be very comfortable during your stay here."

Rakka swallowed a lump in her throat and said, "I mean you no offense, but the last time Riddick and I received hospitality from Hitomians, well. . .we were almost drugged and raped."

Riddick snorted and muttered, "Speak for yourself."

Rakka refused to grace him with a searing look, but kept her eyes on Hera.

Hera licked her lips and said, "The Old Queen was most shocked when she heard of what happened on Echo. She would like to extend her most sincere apologies about what happened there and would like you to know that those responsible has been severely punished as though that have committed treason against the Crown."

Rakka stared at her and nodded, "I guess then it'll be alright. . .but we're still going to watch ourselves."

Hera nodded her head in complete understanding which surprised Rakka that she didn't take offense. "I want to give you my word that no harm will befall you or your child during your time under my protection."

Rakka could only respond by nodding her head in understanding. Riddick made no response that he heard the exchange between the women. He kept his eyes on Rakka and never took his gaze anywhere else.

* * *

It was almost an hour later before they were shown to their room. The Titania eerily reminded Rakka of the Ghengis Kahn, back years ago with a certain android named Twenty Two. They were constantly surrounded by armed guards and each doorway or entry way was checked out before they were allowed through. They didn't see any crew members of passengers traveling the halls and corridors. It was as if they were the only human aboard.

The room they were taken to, looked as if it was made for a princess and her lover, it actually was. The room was colorful, with red carpet and pearl colored walls. There was a small foyer with coat racks and poles for jackets and any hats. It led them into lavished living room with a loveseat with an oak coffee table in front. A rather large vid was attached to the wall.

Passed it led into a small dinning room with a round table with two seats on either side. She also noticed a lacey light blue bassinet on the far side for Jack whenever they wanted him to be there for meals. There was a doorway where a kitchen was stationed with fine cooking equipment and it was supplied with enough food to feed public school.

The bedroom was large with his and her walk in closets with already a selection of clothes hung up inside. The bed, there was only one bed, was king size with blue sheets and high spiraling poles almost reaching the ceiling.

But what pleased Rakka the most was the nursery. It was down in light colors that were easy on the eyes. The blue was light blue and the walls were a very light yellow. The center of the room was a round with light curtains tied back and it looked so comfortable that Rakka wished it was ten times bigger for her to sleep in. There was a changing station against the wall supplied with diapers, wipes, and other needed items. There were even toys and furniture needed for when Jack got older and bigger.

God., she hoped that the Hitomians weren't planning on her staying for that long.

After the escort left to allowed them rest, Hera said that she would return to collect them three hours later, more than enough time for them to rest, bathe, or whatever the felt necessary to do before meeting a queen.

After Hera left, Rakka settled Jack into his new bed and then went to hers. She kicked off her shoes and flopped onto it. It felt so comfortable that she decided to take an hour nap before going to see this 'Old Queen" as everyone called her.

However. . . she felt the mattress sag over to the right as something heavy climbed onto it. Shit.

She felt a large hand touch her shoulder and run down her back, to slip over her hip. It trail back up to her shoulder again and fingers probed the back of her neck through her hair. "Riddick, there was a couch in the living room?"

"I ain't sleepin' on the couch, bitch."

"No, I am." She pushed herself up off the bed and rolled off it away from Riddick. She left the bedroom and headed into the living room where she stretched herself across the couch in one smooth motion. It was comfortable, not as comfortable and roomy as the bed, but she could sleep on it if she needed to.

She listened carefully as she heard movement within the bedroom. It stopped and she wondered what Riddick was doing, when she heard the hum of the shower running. She fell asleep using the shower as white noise.

* * *

She woke up an hour later to the vid being turned on and the volume being lifted. She groggily lifted her head and winced at the crink in her neck. Riddick was sitting in the armchair beside the couch watching the news.

"They ain't saying anythin' about what happened at the custody hearin'. Wanna keep it quiet so as not to panic the 'citizens'."

She sat up, sitting upright on the couch rubbing her neck. Her throat was sore and she had an headache. She must be coming down with something after all. "Riddick, is there. . .was there any cold medicine in the bathroom?"

"A few small bottles of several brands." Riddick replied and watched her stand. "You sick?"

"None of your fucking business." She snapped as she exited the living room. She went into the bathroom and studied each brand before selecting one. She took the medicine as the directions directed and took a warm shower.

The shower was made of marble and the interior was rounded with no corners. The sliding glass door curved around also with the glass curvy and bumpy to distort any view seen through it. The floor was made of rubbery bubbles to prevent slipping with a small golden drain for water.

When she finished and slid open the door, she nearly shrieked at the sight of Riddick standing at the bathroom sink holding a bottle of medicine she had taken. "You sick or not?"

"As I said before," Rakka said as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself, "none of your fucking business."

"It is my business if yer gonna be handlin' my kid. Ain't ya not suppose to be around babies sick?"

"Oh, aren't we infant experts?" She snapped as she grabbed a brush and raked it roughly through her hair. She stood in front of a full length mirror, which hung near the shower. She didn't want to be near Riddick enough to use the mirror over the sink. "You've been around Jack for less than four hours and you know more than me, someone who RAISED your first child from being a baby to a teenager. Why don't you go write a few books, okay?"

Suddenly, the bathroom felt colder and it was emanating from Riddick. He stepped nearer, but it scared her as if he had lunged forward to kill her. His voice spoke to her in rough tone full of menace, "Listen, bitch, you can act like a bitch all you want, I pretty much expect it from you by now. But if it gets in the way of what's best for Jack. . . you and me are gonna have problems. So I'm gonna try this again and you better straighten up. Do you think you are sick?"

"Maybe." Rakka replied exhaling through her nose.

"Then we should get someone to help out with Jack till you find out for sure." Riddick said. "A nanny or a nurse or some shit."  
"Okay." Rakka replied. "I'm sure that Hera can arrange something."

"And see a doctor." Riddick walked out of the bathroom.

"Bastard." She whispered under her breath. Thinking she couldn't take care of HER baby.

She heard a wail from the nursery. She quickly grabbed a robe hanging off a hook on the bathroom wall and slipped into it. She headed for the nursery where she saw Riddick bending over and lifting Jack upward to his chest.

"Stay there." Riddick ordered when she was in the doorway.

"What?"

"We already had this conversation." Riddick bobbed Jack a little to calm him down. "If you're sick, ya can't be around Jack."

She wanted to yell something nasty at Riddick, anything at all, but she couldn't. He was right and she knew it, and she hated him for it. "Well, how is he?"

"Dunno." Riddick said. "I think he needs a change."

"I can do that." Rakka said stepping forward.

"I know how to do it." Riddick replied as he carried Jack to the changing table.

Rakka watched him amazed as he changed Jack's diaper flawlessly. Jack quieted as the soiled diaper was removed and a fresh one was enfolded around him. Rakka couldn't help, but stare at him.

"Why you actin' so surprised?" Riddick asked as he used the sticky tabs to secure Jack's diaper. "I told ya, I jump around a lot of foster homes. And each one had two or three babies. When the so called foster parents were too drunk to do shit, the older kids had to take care of the little kids."  
After Riddick finished buttoning Jack's clothes back up, there was a signal announcing someone at the door. Rakka went to the door where there was a small vid screen attached with a small console beneath it. She pressed a button and said, "Yes?"

It was Hera and standing beside her was a young girl in her late teens. She had grass green eyes and either light brown or dark blonde hair tied back into a tight French braid. "I've come to seen if you were almost ready to visit with the Old Queen?"  
Rakka winced and said, "You know what? I just stepped out of the shower. If you give me a minute, I'll ready."

"I have a servant here that can help you." Hera motioned to the girl. "She can help you dress and prepared."

"No, I can get myself ready, but we do need someone to watch Jack."

"Of course, Cameo is a trained attendant for any possible needs you may have." Hera assured Rakka.

"The nursery is in the back, past the living room."

Rakka wasn't sure about Cameo. She was very quiet and only spoke when spoken to. She always rushed to perform whatever task she was asked to do without question and it irritated Rakka the way she kept calling her Madame and Riddick Sire.

Rakka chose a red and white robe with a light green sash. She dried her hair and let it hang loose down her back with the tangles brushed out. She used light makeup, since she was too tired to do much more, which disturbed her.

She had just taken a nap not too long ago. She must be really coming down with something.

Of course, Riddick didn't do anything to get ready other than his early shower. He wore his favorite black outfit and watched her dress and so forth.

After she was ready, they were led down a long hallway. They took several turns and road an elevator up several floors, then they were taken to small room.

Within the room, sitting at a small table was a very old and wizened woman. She had long, long white hair tied up into a thick coil of a braid. Her eyes were a mother of pearl color, a very pale whitish color. She wore a silvery crown with multiple tears and jewels that resembled eyes. She wore a very long and draping robe, that hung over the electronic wheelchair she was seated in.

As Rakka drew near, the woman raised her hands upward toward her and said, "Come closer, child. My eyes aren't what they use to be."

Rakka swallowed and walked closer to the woman and she automatically bent downward. The woman's hands were cool when they touched her cheeks and she looked into this woman's face. "Are. . .are you my grandmother? Pllao?"

"No, dear. Pllao was my daughter, her son, who was my grandson, was Luac your father." The woman said smiling sweetly at her. "I never thought he would amount to anything, the little creep."

Rakka wasn't sure she heard this woman correctly. "I. . . I'm sorry."  
"But he managed to do something right, by having a Blessed Child for my Great Granddaughter." The old woman continued. "What is your name child?"

Rakka, still a bit shaken, said, "Rakka."  
"Who named you that?" The Old Queen asked.

Rakka nervous said, "My mother. It was the same name as her grandmother."

"A fine name indeed, since it wasn't Luac's idea." The Old Queen said, then motioned to an empty chair. "Have a seat. I'm too old to be staring up at the sky like a small retarded child."

Rakka swore she heard Riddick chuckle from behind as she took the offered chair and seated close beside the Old Queen. A servant at the back stepped forward and began pouring tea into small teacups from a small miniature tray against the wall.

"Tell me your mother's name." The woman said while the tea was being served.

"Yuao, she was. . .a farmer's daughter." Rakka said feeling a bit put down.

"Which is fine, in fact, very good. She was taught good values that girls these day are barely taught. Did she teach you good values about how girls should behave around men? Didn't sleep around like a little whore during your young years."

"No." Rakka replied/

"Then why fucking hell are you sleeping that piece of shit over there?" The Old Queen pointed at Riddick. "A convict! A fucking convict! Good girls do NOT sleep around with bad boys, though I will admit that bad boys are better in bed than good boys." She gave Riddick her full attention and said, "Get over here and sit down too. I already said that my eyesight is bad. I hate repeating myself. I'm the queen, dammit, respect my authority."

Oh, Lord, there was going fight between Riddick and this woman before the night was over. Riddick came forward; his arms folded over his chest and looked down at the old woman. Rakka could feel his glare as though it was directed at her alone.

The Old Queen stared at Riddick's physique and said, "Just like a Furyan, nice ass, good stomach, and hard pecs. Reminds me of my Furyan lover when I was a girl. . . Rakka, I wasn't a good girl at all when I was princess."

Rakka could only respond with an interested, "Oh?"

"But this isn't about me, it's about you and your lost sense of values." The Old Queen pointed at Riddick. "Men like this, you sleep with. . .you just SLEEP with them, not have their babies. Men like this is meant for fun, not as possible husbands."

"No, Riddick and I are not going to get married." Rakka blurted.

"Oh, so you're satisfied with your children being bastards?"

"They are not!" Rakka snapped.

"You are not married to him and he's not married to you, so any babies you have together are bastards." The Old Queen explained. "What would your mother say about this?"

Rakka wanted to say something back at this nosy old woman, but nothing would come. Thing was, she was right. Her mother would be shocked at how she turned out. However, she was a princess now. . . with a great grandmother from hell.

"Listen, sister, we ain't here for you to bitch at us." Riddick stepped into the foray.

"Back off, baldy, I'm bitching at my great granddaughter, not you. Just stand there for me to use as a model of what not to breed with."

"Uh. . .grandmother?" Rakka said hoping to interject.

"Ah, grandmother. . .that's so much nicer than what your father use to call me. Old Hag, witch, dragon lady, and behemoth. God, I hated that little creep."

"My father and you didn't get along?" Rakka ventured.

"No, we did not. I wanted him killed so my daughter could produce a proper princess, instead of grateful prince. We are a matriarchic society, Rakka. We women rule, it is the eldest daughter that received the crown, not the eldest son as is SO common with other societies."

"How did you fail in killing him?" Riddick asked.

"I didn't fail, it's just that I couldn't do it. Pllao couldn't have anymore children after that little shit. I bet he did it on purpose when he was born. Just tore up my daughter ovaries so there wouldn't be chance of a lovely daughter. He should have been drowned at birth, I even tried to, but they stopped me as I filling up the sink. . . "

Rakka continued to stare at this strange elderly woman and looked at Riddick. Riddick had his eyes on this old woman, but there was a tightness about his mouth as if he was fighting to keep from laughing.


	54. Purpose

Rakka inhaled and exhaled through her mouth. She never. . .NEVER imagined meeting a grandmother like this. In fact, she never thought she would ever meet a living relative of either of her parents. And she never thought she would ever get scolded like a teenager at her age.

"Grandmother, I. . .I'm sorry that. . . I turned out this way, but I can assure you there were circumstances that happened there were beyond our control."  
"Oh, so he raped you."

"NO! He did not rape me. I was purely consensual."

"The words "beyond our control" just came out of you, did it not."  
"I didn't mean it like that."

"Anyways, the deeds are done. You're a princess of a broken race who has two sons with a convicted man. Did you know that right now there are celebrations all over the universe between the Hitomians about finding a lost member of the Royal family, a princess with blue-violet sacred eyes."  
Rakka felt her blood go cold. She had the feeling that what they were going to talk about next was something she wasn't going to like at all. "I'm sorry that you are so displeased with me."  
"It's not me you're going to upset; it's going to be our people. They are expecting a pure righteous woman as their princess, their next ruler after I am gone."

"Well, I can't change." Rakka said crossing her arms. "Again, I'm sorry, but I didn't know that was going to have to play the part of a princess. I didn't even know I was one until less than six hours ago. Aren't I too old? I'm almost 37."

"You're going to be princess until I die and the crown is passed to you."

"I don't want to become queen." Rakka said through her teeth. "I can't. I only have a high school diploma. I dropped out of college to take care of my mother when she was sick."

"Well, I guess that mean I have to live long enough for you to learn." The Old Queen settled back into her chair. "But the children. . . they aren't as easy to take care of."  
Rakka felt herself bristle. "What the hell does that mean?"  
"Rakka, let me explain how the Hitomian views on bastards and marriage work. You see, your children are not entitled to the throne at all since you conceived them outside of marriage with their father."

"That's fine." Rakka replied. "I wouldn't put them this."

"However, that means that you will be expected to have a blood heir to the throne. A legitimate heir."

She heard Riddick shifting his boots as if he was uncomfortable as she is. "What do you intend?"  
"Rakka, you're not going to like what I'm about to say anymore than I do, but these are customs that have handed down through our royal family for almost a thousand years.  
The Old Queen's outspoken and rude manner eased away to show concern as one would expect from a grandmother. "They were expected of my grandmother, my mother, me, your grandmother, you father, and now you."

"Just tell me." Rakka wanted it over quickly as ripping off a band aide.

"Rakka, you have get to married. Not to him." She pointed at Riddick. "But to a suitable Hitomian aristocrat of the court."

"No." Rakka shook her head. "No, no, no. I am not going to marry a complete stranger just to make people happy with me."

"It's not just to make them happy. It's to produce a legitimate heir to the throne after you. They will not recognize your sons."

"No, no, no. I am not doing this. No, I was fine before this entire princess shit, so I'm not doing it!" Rakka moved to stand, but her wrist was snagged in a surprisingly tight grip by the old woman.

"Listen to me." The Old Queen said with her eyes blazing. "Are you so willing to break the Laotaner bloodline like this? A family that has lasted for a thousand years, because you don't want to marry."

"It's not that I don't want to marry. I am not going to get married to some complete stranger!"

"Child, you have no idea about arrange marriages. I didn't meet my husband until my wedding day."

"I am 37 years old. I don't have to do anything I don't want to do." Rakka wrenched her wrist free and said, "I want to call Yari and tell Roland that I'm on my way home with Jack. I am going there and I am going to spend the rest of my life there. I'm sorry about breaking family tradition, but you are asking too much of me."

"You can't call Yari." The Old Queen said studying her face.

"Why not?" Rakka said steadily.

"We don't have an interspacial comlinks."

Rakka stared at her. "In ship this big and as rich as you are, you don't have something like that?"

"No, we don't." The Old Queen waved a hand at Rakka as if she was shooing her away. "Go back to your baby. I want to talk to this nice specimen right here." She looked at Riddick who had been standing silently like a bodyguard.

"Fine." Rakka said as she turned to leave the small dining room.

Hera was right outside the door standing as if guarding it with her life. She bowed to Rakka as she left the room and preceded to guide her back to her room.

* * *

The Old Queen stared at up the big man and said, "I lied. We do have such a com, but calling Yari will do her no good. Yari is gone."

Riddick stared at the Old Queen and said, "How is that?"

"Necromongers. The Interspacial council wants to keep it quiet to prevent widespread panic amongst the planets. So far it's only been Yari that was destroyed."

"Fuck it." Riddick snapped.

"No survivors, none."

"Dammit."

"I would have told her, but she was quite upset about our plans for her, so I didn't want to throw more fuel on the fire. I suppose it would be better if she heard from you."

"We ain't exactly gettin' along right now."

"Is that why you didn't step forward?" The Old Queen asked. "To claim her as your own woman."

"She's mine, but I ain't marryin' her. You said it yourself, gotta be a Hitomian."

"True, but the prophecy dictates that her third child must be yours also." The Old Queen said in a very tired tone. "I would push for you to marry her, being that you two already have quite the history and you being Lord Marshal and all, no one should complained. . ."

"How did you know?" Riddick said tightening his stance in an automatic defensive mode.

"Don't bristle at me. We've been watching you for a long time. Let's just say than an old friend of mine told me all about you. You have quite a history yourself."

"So you know about me, big deal. How does marriage affect my kids?"

"Let me finish explaining, which YOU interrupted, dammit." The Old Queen said taking a slow sip of her tea. "I would try to encourage you to marry her, but however, some power hungry sons of bitches either want their sons to marry or take her as a wife themselves. My people are slowing becoming corrupted for some reason. They all hunger for power and are willing to get it in anyway possible. You saw what almost happened to you on Echo. They wanted to become the keeper of this Sacred Child and use it to give them a power boost amongst our kind."

"Rakka ain't havin' any of it. The only way you get 'er down an aisle is by holdin' a gun to her head."

"I know, I know. If she's anything like me, she'll fight tooth and claw against this bullshit. But the court demands it of me. They easily overrule me in this and they had to work pretty damn hard to do so."

"You didn't answer me. How does this affect my kid?" Riddick said stiffly.

"They won't need for anything." The Old Queen replied. "They'll go to the best schools, get the best jobs, and if they get your looks they'll be fighting the women off with proton missiles. They'll have good lives. . ."

"They? They? Why are you sayin' they? Didn't you get through telling me that there are no survivors from Yari? Roland was on Yari."

"Ah, well, we have reasons to believe that he MAY still be alive." The Old Queen set down her teacup. "We kept our eye on Yari since we discovered Rakka was there. I chose to keep our distance due to that her husband had died, you were back in her life, and she was having a baby. She didn't need to know on top of everything that she was a princess with a strict destiny. You left the planet with her to seek Jack, but I people watching Yari, but making no contact with Roland."

"Waitaminute. You found out because of some reporter bitch, Tirana. She was sending out information about Rakka to Hitomiana hoping to get a few hits. It was you that requested she send a young photo of her."

"Yes, I wanted to see if she held any Laotaner family resemblances. She did and she matched the reports we received from Echo about her. I even double checked her blood test results from the clinic while she was getting prenatal care. We kept our distance. Perhaps too much distance, or else we would have intervene when Turner sold Jack."

"I'm still waitin' for my answer." Riddick said in a tone that promised much violence if he wasn't sated soon.

"There was a Necro cruise ship landed on Yari before they roasted the planet. It was on the planet for over an hour, and during that hour, there was a frantic emergency call from House 22, where Rakka had lived. It was some Alia woman. She was screaming about some men in armor breaking in and then it was cut off."

"Fuck it." Riddick hissed under his breath.

"Why would the Necromonger send down a small ship to the planet's surface for an hour and then destroy the planet, unless there was someone on the planet that they didn't want killed."  
"That fuckin' bitch, Dame Vaako slut, knew about Roland. . ." Riddick growled under his breath.

"And I believe it's a good thing she did. Otherwise they may have destroyed the planet without possibly collecting Roland." The Old Queen said. "Do you have any idea of why they would act without your order? They are more of religious freaks than my people are when it comes to their Lord Marshal."  
"It's my business, I'll take of it." Riddick said and turned as if to go.

"You walk out that door and I will throw this hot pot of tea on you." The Queen almost yelled. "You will tell me. Whatever is going on with you and the Necros is now affecting my great granddaughter and her children. And now possibly the universe which has MY people in it."

Riddick paused at the door and turned back. He stared at the old woman and she stared back daring him to leave. "When I first became Lord Marshal, a lot of 'em wasn't too happy about it. Almost every day I hadda watch out for an assassination attempt from anywhere. I had to kill a lot of stupid fucks, but eventually I made the cut with 'em all and started running things. But then they started getting all pissed that I hadn't done this ritual that all Lord Marshals gotta do. Go to the Underverse and come back."  
"And I take it; you don't plan on doing that."

"No, never got around to it, and also they're mad that I wasn't takin' them all to the Underverse, lettin' 'em continue their fuckin' crusade converting planets. I let 'em have a few slams just ta make 'em happy for a while."

"So they would act against you in this?"

"Not all of 'em, but there was this group. They thought I didn't know about 'em, but I did. Their leader use to be a top advisor to Zhylaw, the old Lord Marshal. He was the one that bitched the most and the loudest when I took the throne. I wouldn't be surprised that he arranged some assassination attempts also. He's an old fart like you."  
"Fuck you, but being serious now. . .what do you think they would intend for Roland if they have him?"

"I don't know. But I'm sure they would use him against me."

"You're going to have to tell Rakka all of this. It'll be better for her to hear it from you than from anyone else."

"I don't sugarcoat shit."

"And she respects that in you."

"Any news on where they are? I lost contact with my hacker Adrian. Thought it was solar winds for a while, but now I know he's dead."

"No, no news. My spies got the hell out of there when the Necros started that weapon."

"They'll come lookin' for me." Riddick said running the tip of his tongue over his teeth. "They got to kill me first before they can get a new Lord Marshal. That's one of their most 'divine' rules and whoever kills me get the throne."

"So you're thinking it may be a race among them?"

"I think they're gonna work together to find me and then just like hungry dogs they'll snap at each other while they try to kill me."

"So what to do? Riddick, I'd help you find them if I could, but my people are still severally damaged from their attack on Hitomi. I had to bluff with the Helion High Council telling them I would go to war with their servant planet if I didn't get my way. Our weaponry is very limited at this moment and very weak. The best we could hope for if this ship was attacked was for a strong defense to give us time to escape. There is NO way we would be able to strike against the Necromongers in any way imaginable." The Old Queen explained. "So what do we do? Go looking for them or let them look for you."

"Gonna be hard. I had Adrian make sure that they couldn't track me down no matter and it's a pretty big universe. There are many unexplored areas that the Necros know about and it would take me years to find them."

"Will they attack planets again?"

"I doubt it. Everything they do is centered around the Underverse and the Lord Marshal. They got to have both for them to function, so until they find they're gonna spend their time huntin' me."

"Things are going to get bad again." The Old Queen said leaning back into her wheelchair. "Hopefully by the time that the cat shit hits the fan, my people will be prepared."

"Nothing can prepare you for what the Necros can do."

The Old Queen looked sadly at Riddick and said, "I know."  
Suddenly, a young Hitomian girl stumbled into the room, panting from running. She looked up at Riddick and the Queen and said something incoherent.

"Girl, take a deep breath and tell us what is the matter in one sentence." The Old Queen ordered.

The girl took a very deep breath and said, "The princess's baby is ill. He's in the medical facility right now."


	55. Horrible

Rakka was already at the clinic looking through the glass as the doctors inside cared for her baby. Her hair was tangle and her eyes were red from crying and being rubbed at.

When she had entered her room, Jack was gone and there was a very nervous maid to tell her that Jack had gotten a high fever while they were visiting the Queen. She then had Hera take to the medical facility immediately.

There her baby had received an IV drip to make sure he was given plenty of fluids and the doctors were monitoring his vitals. She was told that Jack had somehow came down with the flu. They assured her that they were doing everything possible to assure that Jack had a full recovery.

She didn't feel assured at all.

She heard a footstep behind her and she turned to see Riddick coming inside the viewing room. 'Riddick. . ."

"What's goin' on, Rakka?" Riddick asked as he approached her.

"While we were gone, Jack got a high fever and Cameo automatically took him to the medical facility here. He has the flu."

"Dammit, how is he?"

"He's fine and they think he'll get better soon, but he's so sick and little, Riddick." Rakka felt her face tear up as a fresh bout of tears welled in her eyes. She wanted Riddick to hold her, to rub her arms and shoulders, and tell her that it was going to all right.

Instead Riddick said, "Did the doctors check you out? You were sick too."

"What? I am not sick." Rakka felt herself bristle.

"Bullshit." Riddick snapped.

Before she could tell him off, the head doctor entered the waiting room. He was removing his mask and Rakka was surprised to realize that he wasn't Hitomian. He was a norm who looked to be in his early forties. His dark hair was peppered with grey and white. He wore the usual white uniform of any physician and he stood a few inches taller than Rakka.

"Your Highness, I'm happy to tell you that he's going to be just fine. He's going to be cranky for the next few days, but he's very healthy and strong so I see no reason for him not to pull through as long as we take care of him."

Before Rakka could thank him, Riddick spoke up and said, "Check her out too. She may have the flu also."

"Riddick, no." Rakka hissed.

"Rakka, you were sick and now Jack's sick too." Riddick growled at her.

"Actually, your Highness, I was going to suggest that I give you a small checkup and see if maybe the disease wasn't transmitted from you."

"What?" Rakka felt like the world was ganging up with her with Riddick as the ringleader.

"Since the baby came from the planet below us, I check with the doctors in Catica and Discu and there seems to be a small Flu epidemic in Catica, especially around the areas that you stayed within the city. You may have caught the Flu and inadvertently gave it to Jack. Have you had headaches and sore throat?"

Rakka felt her heart skip a beat. "Yes, I have. . .now. . . I've been feeling achy for a little bit now."

"Let me give you a check up and maybe a blood test. I can then prescribe medication that can help."

* * *

The doctor and Riddick were right. She did have the flu and by that night she was miserable with all common symptoms of flu. Doing the simplest tasks drained her, her body hurt, her throat felt as if it was on fire, and her head was pounding at the slightest movement of her head. What was worse was that Jack must be feeling the same things and SHE, his mother, had and she gave it to him.

They thought it best that she stay in the room while Jack remained in the medical clinic where he could be watched and taken care of. She hated it; she hated it so much that she wanted to scream that it wasn't fair. She just got Jack back and now it feels as if he was being taken away from her all over again.

She was lying in her bed trying to sleep that night when Riddick came in. She sat up and said, "Riddick, how's Jack?"

"The same as the time you asked me an hour ago to check on him." Riddick replied as he pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed.

"It's not fair, Riddick." She whimpered as her chest hurt. "I just got him back. I wanted to spend my whole time holding him, feeding him, playing with him, and just loving him." She coughed hard enough that she yelped as it racked her chest. "This isn't what I expected about getting him back. I screw shit up."

"Yeah, you pretty much do."

"Oh, god, we need to talk to Roland. Let him know that we have Jack back." Rakka moaned.

"Rakka. . ." Riddick said softly.

"Yes, Riddick?"  
"I already called and talked to him." Riddick said.

"You did? How is he?"

"He's still pissed, but he's happy that we got Jack back."

"Damn, when did you call him?"

"After you left the Queen. She's senile so she forgot all about the comlink thing."  
"Why didn't you tell me? Or get me, I've been wanting to talk with him!"

"I was, but then the flu thing started."

"Dammit, then let's call him again now."

"It was late when I called. He's already asleep right now."

"And he's got school in the morning. I'll call him tomorrow then." Rakka studied him and said, "Maybe you should get a checkup too. You've been around me and Jack, you might get sick too."

"I don't get sick." Riddick said.

"Okay, let those be your famous last words before you break down like me."

* * *

Riddick knew he had lied and it was a sort of lie he hadn't told in many years. He had always been brutally honest because he had to be honest with himself for so long. The truth was always being thrown into his face about himself, any situation he was in, and any people who would use him and he had to be always ready to accept it and take it as it was. And thus he expected others to do the same, even though they would not do as well as him.

He wasn't too sure about why he lied to Rakka. He knew that she would panic, scream, fight to get out of bed and into a cruiser to find Roland. It wouldn't be good for her to handle what happened to Yari on top of being sick and getting the info on being a princess and all the marriage shit.

It was something he would have done for Jack/Kyra. He knew he cared about her and he would have lied to her if she needed it when she was alive. He failed her, he failed her so badly.

He did care about baby Jack, poor kid was as miserable as his mother. Roland. . .if Roland was younger than maybe something would appear, but Roland was old enough to hate, resent, and loathe him for what happened. Old enough to do harm to himself and those around him. . . old enough to be a possible enemy.

He hated caring about Rakka, he hated this emotion, this attachment. People have come and gone from his life as quickly and many as the leaves on the wind. Ever since he met her, he had waited for her to go out of his life forever as so many had done, but she kept coming back into his. He couldn't make sense of it. Fry had gone, Imam had gone, and so had Jack/Kyra, fuck it, even Johns had gone. Rakka seemed to refuse to go away, even though it was his own will to go back to her when she as pregnant with Jack.

He never had a woman for so long. When he was a teen, he like any other teenage boy with his physique, he had girlfriends by the dozens. Whenever he walked into a bar or nightclub there was always a girl or two vying for his attention. More than once, an all out catfight broke out over him. He never went back home alone, there was always a willing girl that spent the night.

When his fame as a notorious convict started, he got it whenever he could get it. From women within Slams and with any willing woman he came across in any cities he was hiding out in. He'd always been careful when it came to sex. He's always uses a rubber if he had one on him or the woman use a diaphragm or birth control pills. If none of those were available, well, he just didn't do intercourse. . . he did other things.

Rakka sure had tied him down to her, maybe without realizing it. She sure did her time trying to get away from him as he tried to get away from her. He had planned on leaving her after they got Jack, but now there was no way he can leave her. Not with the way things are now.

* * *

Rakka spent the next two weeks in bed. She was tended by nurses and maids twenty-four hours a day. She was only allowed to get up to bathe and use the rest room. She appreciated the help when she felt so miserable, but as she began to get better and feel able to move around, she began to get annoyed by all the spoon feedings, constantly taking her temperature, and not allowing her to see Jack.

She appointed Riddick to be at the hospital and report Jack's progress which he did with no complaint she was happy about. She was happy that Jack was quickly getting better, but was irritated that she was unable to be around him for fear of making him sick again.

She did get a visit from the Old Queen, though not a very nice visit. Luckily she was well enough to tolerate being berated.

"Are you trying to kill me?" The Old Queen said as she rolled into the bedroom after being announced. "Do you have any idea how many old people like me die from the flu?"

Rakka sat up against the dozens of cushions arranged for her. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I was sick. And if you're so concerned about getting the flu, then why are you here?"

"I had a flu shot last month." The Old Queen replied. "Anyways, this illness has ruined a few of our plans."

"Plans? What plans?" Rakka asked.

"Your coming out party of course. We have to introduce you to the court as the new Hitomian Princess and then a few weeks from now aren't you turning 38? Your birthday?"

Rakka stared at her. . . then it slapped her across the face. Her birthday. . .she had forgotten her birthday in all the excitement. "I. . .I forgot all about my birthday."

"Hmm. Then you certainly aren't of the court of you can so easily forget your birthday." The Old Queen studied Rakka's face and said, "The doctors say that you are still able to have children."  
"No, if you came in here to nag me about getting married, then you may leave right now." Rakka replied irritated.

"No, not about marriage, about having a third child. It's very important that you have a third baby."  
"Grandmother, no, I already told you I won't have any of it." Rakka settled herself against the cushions. "This marriage shit is wrong for me and you know it. You just can't do this to someone. 'Hey, you're the long lost princess of a race and guess what? You got to get married'. I already experienced a marriage without love and it wasn't fair to Terry and it wasn't fair to me and we also ended up hurting Roland, my first son."  
"Then you would you marry if you could." The Old Queen asked. "Who do you love?"

"That's a very personal question." Rakka replied evenly.

"And I expect a very honest answer." The Old Queen snapped back. "Honestly child, do you expect to become Mrs. Riddick? That man doesn't seem like the marrying sort if you ask me."

"This has nothing to do with Riddick. Riddick isn't keeping me from marrying someone."  
"Isn't he? Are you telling me that you don't love that man?"

"I love him, but I'm not in love with him." Rakka replied. "I mean. . .we went hell together and we had two kids so that's got to count for something between us. As for us getting married, no, never. We can't get along for longer than day, much less than a lifetime between us."  
The Old Woman studied Rakka and said in a very simple voice asked her a question that threw her. "If you had the power to do anything, then what would you do? And be honest with me."

Rakka at first didn't know and then she said slowly. "First, I would go back to Yari and set things straight with Roland. Then I guess I would raise Jack and Roland. . ."

"What about Riddick? You're leaving him out of the equation." The Old Queen reminded her.

"Well, I guess he would stay with us for a while and then go on his way."  
"No." The Old Queen grabbed Rakka's chin in a firm grip and directed her face to look her in the eye. "I didn't ask about what Riddick would do. I asked what you want. What do you want him to do?"

Rakka almost blurted out what was at the top of her head, then she stopped as the Old Queen's eyes pierced into her own. She thought and then said, "I'm afraid of what I want from him. I want him to stay with me and be a father to the boys, but I don't see us married. I rather see him living near us, but not with us."

"And you two getting together every now and then to screw?" The Old Queen's eyes had a hypnotism affect on her.

"Yes." She said. "I know it's not moral and people would talk behind our backs about it, but. . .I feel that would be the best I could ever hope for from Riddick."

"Again, you are avoiding the answer." The Old Queen sighed and let her go. "I don't want to know what you hope for, I want to know what you want."

"I'm afraid if I say it out loud, bad things will happen." Rakka replied rubbing her chin. The Old Queen had a strong grip. "I want him for myself, I really do, but you haven't been around him for very long. There's this. . .godliness around him. I don't think there's nothing that he can't do or figure it out. Who am I to try and hold him to me?"

"Princess of the Hitomian race." The Old Queen answer. "The mother of his children, that's a pretty damn excuse to hold him tightly to you."

"No, I don't want to tie him to me against his will. I want him to want me back. Not just sexually, but emotionally too. I'm not that kind of woman that uses her own children to keep a man. If he wants to go, then I'll let him go. It'll break my heart to see him leave us and I'll think about him for the rest of my life."

"What if he wants to stay with you and the kids?" The Old Queen asked.

"That's too much for me to hope." Rakka replied. "I mean, he said so himself that he planned on leaving after we got Jack back. I think he's going to leave soon as Jack and me get a clean bill of health and we get back to Yari."

"What did you say?"

"I told him that we needed him, I asked him not to leave." Rakka said as she twisting the sheet at her lap into a little twirl. "Then he started to tell me about his life. It was very good. He told me how bad his childhood was and how he became the outlaw we know him today. He doesn't believe that he'd be a good influence on the kids."

"What do you believe?"

"I don't know what I believe." Rakka replied. "I told him that I was sure that would be a good father to the boys. Grandmother, he knew for almost 15 years that I was a princess and he hasn't told till the day we met you."

"That's no worse than what your father did. He never told you who he truly was, did he?" The Old Queen said.

"No, he never did. I don't think he even told my mother." Rakka remembered. "I remember asking him one day when I was a little girl. He just looked at me and said that his family was rich and that his mother was well known. And that is all that he would say about his family. He did however call me princess all the time."

"The little dumb ass was trying to escape his fucking duties as the goddamn prince." The Old Queen growled.

"He wasn't happy as the prince?"

"No and neither was I. Always going off about how he never asked to be prince and how he wanted more freedom like other boys his age, and he didn't like his arrange marriage. . ."

"Dad had an arrange marriage? He was engaged to another woman?" Rakka was shocked. "When did this happened?"

"It was arranged when he was ten years old. When he got older and fully understood what it meant, he wouldn't have anything to do with it. He wouldn't meet the poor girl and would leave the palace whenever she came for a visit. It's something that we do to get the engaged couple a chance to know each other. Arrange dates for them and such."

"No wonder he was pissed off. It's hard enough to date without your parents planning it for you with a person you don't like." Rakka felt as if she hadn't known her father at all. Here was a life that he had that she had no clue about. She remembered back to her girlhood when she would princess games with her friends. Dressing up in their mothers' clothes and smear makeup on their faces, god, if only she knew that she was really a princess back then. "Who was the girl?"

"Hera's mother." The Old Queen replied.

"What!" Rakka thought back to the woman wearing a uniform. "I had no idea!"

"Yes, after the Disaster, Hera's mother Throa married someone else. We had strongly believed that Luac perished with his mother on Hitomi. But then we found you and I am no longer alone." The Old Queen touched her hand and Rakka curled her fingers around the old withered hand.

"My mother told me stories about her family living on Hitomi. She told me about how it had one sun and three moons and every five years all three moons would be full and just glow. They would almost light up the night as it was day."

The Old Queen's thin lips turned up into a sad smile. "Yes, it was so. We called it the Lunar Day and had a small celebration on the day that it occurred. Hitomi was considered a colorful planet. Most of the planet's climate was green and fruitful. We had deserts or barren lands. There were certain flowers and plants that would only grow on our planet that was used in medicine and other uses for the body. But that is gone now along with two of its moons."

"The planet itself is gone?" Rakka asked.

"No, but it's dead. The weapon that the Necromongers use wipes out all life on a planet. It's going to take the planet possibly thousands of years to recover by itself."

"But what about PR?"

"Planet Relief? You mean that so call group that brings life to dead planets?" The Old Queen frowned, furrowing her brow. "If we turned to them our people will be in their debt for the next dozen centuries. It costs trillions and trillions of UDs to so much as restore a continent on a planet. We managed to save some native planet life and animals and we continue to breed and clone them, but it'll take a long time to get them back to the population number that they once had. And that's not even touching on the subject of rebuilding our cities, homes, farms, schools, businesses, and so forth. And another matter is that our population is low."

"Really?"

"Yes. Rakka, you should thank whatever star of fortune that you were born under that you weren't there during that day. We saw what they were doing to Furya. We were in the same solar system as their planet and Furyans aren't much for technology or for asking for help, but it fucking terrified us."

"I knew that the Furyans and the Hitomians shared the same system. Did you. . .we get along with them?" She found herself suddenly very

"We weren't allies, nor were we enemies. We had a few trade agreements, but all in all, they kept to themselves and we let them." The Old Queen leaned her head back into her memories. "They weren't. . .much for technology. While we embraced it, they regarded it with a bit of distrust. They only accepted various farming machines and medical supplies from the outside and they kept to their planet, weren't much for traveling off planet. They only did so unless they had to and they would to be attend interstellar meetings concerning traveling routes, trading agreements, and landing privileges to outsiders. They weren't high on outsiders I'll tell you that. It probably took First Contact ten years of diplomacy to convince them to allow them to land a ship larger than a small shuttle. And even then, they were NOT allowed anywhere beyond the landing area."

"Really?" Rakka was very surprised. "Surely they would have benefited from stronger outside ties."

"That's what they've been told over and over and they say go to hell over and over. There were very few landing areas on Furya for outsiders. They consisted of a few necessity stores, hotels, liquor stores, and so forth. No one has ever been outside of these areas, at least not come back alive. The Furyans were very afraid that their temples and their way of life would be affected in many ways."

"You said earlier that you had a. . . Furyan lover. . . " Rakka dared.

The Old Queen's face brightened and she smiled showing off perfect white teeth. "Oooooooooooohhhhhhh, yeah. I remember him. Hmmmmmmm. . .His name was Raha and his father was the Furyan diplomat who came to Hitomi to work out the few trade deals we had with them. We fucked each other's brains out that whole week. It was the saddest time I ever had to goodbye to a lover. . ."

"Did you love him?"

"Child, I was a girl. I wouldn't have known whether or not I was in love if it spit in my face. I cared deeply for him, but I loved his body. . ." The Old Queen studied Rakka and said, "Rakka, the Hitomian race is a matriarchic society. There are literally more women born than men. For every five baby girls born there is one male."

"Damn." Rakka muttered. "How do you keep the population pure Hitomian? Wouldn't it have mingled with norms or other races?"

"We were careful about that. We kept records of any males born and paid any who were willing to give sperm samples to clinics. We greatly encouraged any males to stay away from other races and marry with their own. Of course, it was harder with the women, being that there were more of them than males. We have more lesbian couples within our people than any other, but that was perfect for us since most of them wanted children and we were more than happy to supply them with donated sperm. We even managed to figure out how to change sperm cells into assuring boys for those couples that were very interested in having a boy. So we managed, but however, our planet was also called the Whore Planet behind our backs."

"Oh, God." Rakka whispered.

"Yes, since there were so few men on Hitomi, men in general were considered. . . exotic." The Old Queen held up a hand. "Don't get me wrong now. Men's bones are not jumped as soon as they step off a ship, we women weren't that desperate for dick, but any man looking for an easy good time would more than less likely find it on Hitomi. Whore houses boomed especially in docking areas and space ports."  
"Hitomi being destroyed must have horribly messed up your records." Rakka said thoughtfully.

"Not too badly. Right now, we've been collecting our people back as we find them. We're currently populating a new discovered planet. It means we got to start from scratch, but we're optimistic about it. It's like wiping the slate clean."

"Are you going to try to bring life back to Hitomi?" Rakka asked.

"No, you are." The Old Queen looked her in the face and said, "Because you are going to give birth to the one who will bring the planet back to life."


	56. Hope

Rakka leaned against the cushions already annoyed. "Grandmother, I don't want to have this conversation right now. I am not going to have some sort of savior."

"It was prophesied to my grandmother that after Hitomi is destroyed that one of our bloodline with blue-violet eyes will produce a child that will reunite our people and restore Hitomi."

"And the father will be a Furyan." Rakka finished. "I heard this before on Echo and Roland sure doesn't seem like some mystic savior to me."

"Not Roland, not Jack, but your next child. The third child." The Old Queen explained. "The prophecy said that after your Spring and Winter."

"My what?"

"It's based off an old poem or song for expectant women. Very long before my time. It's about having your first child in Spring and your second child in Winter." The Old Queen regarded Rakka with her pale eyes and asked, "What season was Roland born in?"

"Spring on Yari." Rakka answered and felt something tighten inside her.

"And Jack was born in. . ."

"Winter. . .I still don't believe that I'm going to give birth to some savior." Rakka crossed her arms to comfort herself.

"Why are you telling me that again? Or are you telling yourself that?" The Old Queen asked.

"If you believe so much in this shit then why are you trying to get me married off to a Hitomian? Why aren't you trying to get me and Riddick to have another baby?"

"I was overruled. We have atheists in our court or power hungry fools that want their sons to be the next king. They cannot pass up the chance to boost their position by having a son marry you and become king."

"They can all go straight to hell because I am not doing it." Rakka snapped.

"My words exactly."  
"What about all the things you said about keeping our bloodline pure?" Rakka asked.

"Your kids still got the Laotaner blood in their veins. The Furyan blood will give our line the extra kick we've needed for so long." The Old Queen replied. "I should warn you that there are bigots who are going to give you a hard time about it."

"It's okay. I think Riddick and I can deal with just about anything now." Rakka replied.

She didn't notice the hard look she received from the Old Queen. Then the old woman lifted away her long silken shawl from her side and lifted up a very thick folder. She placed it on Rakka's lap and on the side written in large red letters was RIDDICK.

"What's this?" Rakka asked opening it up.

"Riddick's life information. It's in order from when he was found abandoned in a trash can outside a liquor store in one of those landing ports on Furya up to now I suppose."

"You went and got his information? Isn't that illegal?"

"Not if you have the cash." The Old Queen replied as Rakka scanned the first page which was from some sort of child welfare group.

"Nobody knows who his mother was?" Rakka asked not able to make any sense of the information written in words that she would need a dictionary to interpret.

"That is unknown. He was found alone on Furya in a trash can with his umbilical cord around his throat. There were numerous dead bodies around, mostly women and children. It was believed that they were trying to escape by shuttles and any ships that were docked during the time. He was the only baby boy they found alive."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's going to break your heart since you have a baby boy yourself." The Old Queen warned. "The crews found hundreds of baby infants and little boys slaughtered. The newborns were strangled by their own cords."

"That's sick." Rakka whispered in horror.

"That's why the Necromongers scares the hell out of us. The Furyans . . they were the toughest sons of bitches that ever lived in the universe. Anybody that tried to fuck with them such as poachers trying to hunt the animals of their planet or any that would try to mine their planet's resources were sent packing in pieces. Anybody with a death wish just had to piss off a Furyan and they got their wish." The Old Queen touched her eyes as if they hurt her and said, "For beings as powerful as the Furyans to be. . .completely slaughtered. . .Rakka, you have no idea how terrified we were. We immediately sent out a planet wide evacuation order and escape ships were prepped and loaded as fast as possible. Many refused to leave their homes and didn't believe the threat was real at all. Others. . .were too poor for transportation and were too late to load onto the ships. God, there were many begging for rides and money to get them to the escape ships. . .we would have helped them all, Rakka, if we had TIME, if only we had more time for people to load the ships for them to take off."

There were silver tears slipping down the old woman's face and Rakka touched her hand and held it. The woman held her hand tightly and said, "My child, some of the ships had to take off _while people were still boarding. _That was how last minute we managed to escape the destruction. It only we had more time. Rakka, they came so quietly and silently that we didn't even know that they were coming until we heard distress signals from Furya. My daughter and I gave the orders to evacuate the planet without the council's assent. They said we were overreacting, that we were being too rash and too harsh. That we needed to have a meeting about it and shit. Goddammit, if we had waited for them to fight and debate over it, the Hitomian race would have been wiped out. If only we had been given three days, no two day, but the Necromongers only gave us hours."

There was a long moment of sadness between the women. The older one mourning over the loss of her people and the younger mourning for the people she would never know.

"Read the file, child." The Old Queen snapped, her sadness and grief instantly gone.

Rakka smiled and blinked back a few tears. She turned her read the file and noted something. "The child services named him Richard, but they gave him the last name of the man who found him in the garbage can. A Terence B. Riddick heard him crying and took him out of the can to deliver him to relief medics."

"That man died in a fight over a poker game or some nonsense." The Old Queen leaned back in her chair and crossed her thin arms.

"Riddick was never adopted. He was passed around from foster home to foster home." Rakka studied the text and read carefully. "It says that due to Riddick. . .unconfirmed racial background it was hard to arrange an adoption for him. He was too dark for white couples and he was too white for black couples. The same thing happened to Jack when he wasn't sold, but he got adopted anyway."

"Keep going it gets better." The Old Queen motioned to the papers.

Rakka flipped over to see a police report when he was eight years old. He shot a his foster father who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but due to failing to report it, Riddick wasn't moved from the home until it was too late and he had to kill the man out of self defense. Later on, there were more and more reports.

He would get into fights in school and at home with his foster brothers. His grades were low and was literally out of control. He was even part of gangs before he turned eleven. It was as Riddick had told her. There was a long list of misdemeanors of breaking and entering, theft, assault, mugging, vandalism, and disturbing the peace. He was in and out of juvenile facilities and numerous counselors had tried to figure out his problems.

There were several files and papers from these therapists. Many suggested possible child abuse, trauma, and another, to Rakka's sick horror, believed that Riddick had been sexually abused. Oh, god, Riddick. One hit the nail on the head and said he showed signs of early sociopath dementia and urged that Riddick be put immediately into an asylum for any possible treatment or containment. However, despite all these therapists suggestions and diagnoses, Riddick was sent straight into a military school.

Rakka sifted through the papers and found the military ones.

At first Riddick had a few problems his first week there. He showed great resistance to getting his hair shaved for the first time and the strict and rigid schedule. Yet, before the month was over, Riddick became the perfect little soldier. It seemed that the military's rigid and strict code and rough treatment succeeded greatly where the child services' therapists, drugs, and loving care greatly failed.

Riddick thrived within the military. He became top of his class in his first year and stayed top of his class throughout his training. His grades dropped from Fs to perfect scores in academics. He maintained a 4.0 throughout high school and college making him Valedictorian of his class.

He also set records for obstacle courses and races for the military training camps. Also, no matter what mission he was sent on, it was completed and he returned alive each time, no matter how much of his unit was killed or wounded.

Rakka stared at all this information completely stunned and amazed. She knew that Riddick was smart, but she didn't know he was a . . scholar material. She was amazed and thoroughly impressed. She had always believed herself to be the educated one between the two of them, but fuck it; he completed college with flying colors.

"I had no idea." Rakka whispered staring at the grading records. "Straight As, but not just As, he got 100s in every class he took. Even economics, which I barely passed with a D-."

"Take a look at his IQ test results." The Old Queen reached over and flipped through some pages and pointed at one.

Rakka looked and stared shocked at it. "240! He's got an IQ of 240! My god! That's. . .a super genius. How can he get 240? Mine is only 103. Oh my god!"

"It's like he's not human." The Old Queen commented. "Incredibly strong, can survive despite the lowest odds imaginable, has an incredible body, fertile, and has the IQ of a super genius. He's also never been sick a day in his life. There has been many times when he's been wounded, poisoned, and so on, but nothing about childhood illnesses or any of the nasty diseases that spread in Slams. I don't think that man has even gotten so much as a cold in his life."

Rakka closed the folder and asked, "What are you saying? He's some sort of superhuman? That these are traits of Furyans?"

"I don't know, dear, I really don't know. And neither does anybody else. The Furyans were already particular about outsiders stepping on their planet, they sure as hell weren't going under the microscope for anyone. So we have nothing on Furyans to compare him to."

"I. . . I think I need to think for a while." Rakka admitted and handed the file back to the Old Queen. "And I'm tired."

"I understand. I put you through a lot of emotions during my visit." The Old Queen backed up and turned her chair. "Get some sleep. Hopefully by tomorrow the doctors will allow Jack back into his nursery and you can hold him again."

"Thank you." Rakka said. "Where's Riddick, if I may ask?"  
"Looking after Jack, as a father should." The Old Queen replied as she rolled out of the room where her bodyguards were waiting outside.

* * *

Rakka dreamed.

She dreamed that she was looking for Jack, but she couldn't find him. The Necromongers were coming to destroy Yari and she had no idea where her baby was. It was almost time for the ships to leave and her baby was missing.

She screamed with terror and despair as she saw the ships taking off, leaving her behind. She ran at them screaming at them.

"NO, NO, COME BACK! COME BACK! I CAN'T FIND JACK! DON'T LEAVE!"

"DAMMIT, RAKKA, YOU DIDN'T LOOSE HIM! HE'S RIGHT FUCKING HERE!"

Rakka sat up in bed, her heart racing and very disoriented about her surroundings. She looked up into Riddick standing over her holding Jack. He was giving her one of his firm looks that she was doing something stupid again.

"Riddick, what the hell. . .?"

"You were havin' a nightmare. Here." Riddick distributed Jack into her arms.

She cuddled the baby tightly in her arms. Jack looked up into her face for a short moment before he gave her a smile.

"Riddick, oh my god, he's smiling already?" She smiled back at her child and gave him her finger to squeeze.

"Been doing it all week." Riddick replied taking a seat by her bed.

"He's going to break so many hearts." She kissed Jack's cheek. "Has he eaten?"

"Naw, but he's gonna want something soon."

"The doctors said it was okay?"

"Yeah, said he can move back in with us."

Riddick had been sleeping on the couch while she had been sick. He said that while sick she look like something he didn't want to wake up next to in the mornings.

She began to unbutton her front and Riddick said, "Rakka, he doesn't. . ."

"Riddick, he didn't want to breastfeed because he wasn't feeling good, but now that we're better he'll want it." Rakka said lifting her child up to her chest.

Jack complained with a soft coo and then turned his head away from the offered nipple. Rakka was persistent and pressed her nipple against his mouth, then Jack released an angry yell.

"Rakka, you better lemme take him. Once he gets piss, he stays pissed, but he knows the score with me." Riddick took the whining Jack from his mother and held him. Riddick arranged him so he was able to look into Riddick's face and he instantly quieted to soft complaining whimpers which soon faded away.

"How. . .do you know all that?" Rakka asked.

"I've been around him for the last two weeks. He's got a temper and he knows what he wants when he wants it. You shoulda seen him. This nurse tried to take away his pacifier sayin' that he was getting' too dependent on it and he would have cussed her out if he could talk. I thought he was gonna shatter glass and he didn't stop until the bitch gave it back."

"I should know that. . ." Rakka said. "Has he been able to nurse?"

"A wet nurse tried, but he wouldn't take it. He ain't use to it, Rakka. He's use to bottles and pacifiers. He'll only take breast milk from the bottle. The nurses think that he's never been breastfed before so he doesn't know that he can get milk from a tit."

"Damn them." Rakka whispered. She now hated the Caring Charities and Wilas with a passion. They denied her the simple sweet act of nursing with Jack. Goddamn them. "Can I have him back?"

"Yeah, just don't try to breastfeed him again." Riddick said passing Jack back into her arms.

Rakka felt herself bristle at Riddick's instructions. Jack was her baby and she should know his behavior and personality, not Riddick. "I'm sorry for trying to be a mother to him."

"Don't start being a bitch jes cuz the kid won't suck tit." Riddick leaned back into his chair.

"Riddick, don't piss me off now." She replied running her fingers over Jack's downy hair.

"Or what?"

"Riddick, stop it." She said straining not to tighten her hands into fists around Jack.

"Stop what?"

"You know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Don't start with me holding Jack cause you know, we always come to blows."

"Blows?"

"You know, you slinging me around, holding a shiv to my throat, making me think you're going to kill me and end up screwing me instead. Let's not do that in front of Jack, okay?"

She felt her legs getting hot under the sheets. She shifted with her legs while taking care to hold Jack carefully till she was able to sit with her legs folded. She placed Jack on her folded legs so he was able to look up at her and she at him.

She played with Jack by taking gentle hold of his hands and slowly, but gently moving them in the motion of clapping his hands. Jack had a surprised look on his face as she did so, but then he broke into a grin from Rakka's happy look on her face as she played.

"I want to call Roland today." She said in a high sing song voice entertaining Jack.

"Rakka."

She looked up at Riddick. The way he said her name bothered her greatly. It wasn't his threatening or angry tone, it was his dead serious tone that he used to tell her bad news. "Riddick?"

"Lemme take Jack into the nursery. Maybe he'll take a nap before he gets hungry."

Rakka's blood turned to ice water in her veins. She numbly passed Jack back to Riddick and the big man rose from the chair to take the infant into the nursery. He returned a moment later and told her what had happened to Yari.

She sat frozen. She felt as if she was watching a movie of Riddick telling her this horrible news and her ears seemed to hummed to her brain. _"How can I still understand him despite this humming?"_

She pondered about this and Riddick interrupted her thought. "Rakka, you heard me?"

"Yes. Roland could still be alive?"

"I believe so. Why else would they send a ship an hour before they wipe out the planet's life?"

Why wasn't she screaming? Why wasn't she crying right now? She felt so calm and so damn relaxed.

"It ain't hit you yet, has it?" She felt rough fingers stroking her knee.

"I just feel numb. Do you think this is shock I'm feeling?"

"Or part of it." The fingers were rubbing up her thigh to her hip where it gave her panties a little tug and let the elastic popped her skin. Riddick trying to get her mad or irritated.

"What do we do? I don't have a home anymore." She said it so simply and so matter of fact that it bothered her.

"I talked with the old hag. They got a planet they've been populating. The hag has a place there that we can stay at for a while."

"Can we trust them?" Rakka asked.

"So far the old woman has been straight with us. I'm still watchin' though."

"What planet are we going to?"

"It's far away. We're going to have to get there through hyperspace or we'll spend a few years in cryo."

"I thought hyperspace engines were expensive."

"They have some saved over from the destruction of Hitomi."

"Riddick, I feel so heavy."

"Then lay down."

She shifted her body, until she was on her back on the bed. It was hard to breathe, it felt as if there was thick oil in her lungs and she was suddenly short of breath. She took deep breaths to dispel the sense of drowning and roll onto her side away from Riddick. She was floating in a river and going to God knows where.

When she came to her senses, she realized that she was naked and Riddick running his hands up and down her body. "Riddick. . ." Sharp teeth tugged at her earlobe and a lot of weight settled near her. Thick arms enfolded her body and a rough fingers trail down her stomach. She choked and a dull whine left her throat as his fingertips touched her clitoris. She started crying.

"Oh, god, Riddick, Roland, he's my baby too." She whimpered into the pillow. Riddick's fingers rolled around her clitoris. "I had a fight with him when I last saw him. I left him thinking I didn't love him, but I did. . ."

Riddick growled harshly into her ear and then said. "He's still alive Rakka. He's with the Necromongers and they wanted him alive, why else take him before destroying the planet?"

"He must be scared." Rakka whispered.

Riddick bit lightly into her shoulder and tugged at her skin. He released and said, "If he's anything like me, he's givin' 'em hell."

"All my friends. . . they're dead. Alia and Sarabi. . .they were my friends since I arrived on Yari. They helped me raise Roland. When Roland was a baby, I was scared to death because I had no idea how to take care of him sometimes, but they were right there with me. They taught me how to hold him, feed him, bathe him, and even play with him. I don't know where I'd be if they hadn't been there to help."  
"You'd a figured it out, Rakka." Riddick replied and his fingers gave her clit a little tweak making her catch her breath.

"The last fifteen years of my life is gone, Riddick. It's just gone and I will never get it back."

"You're still alive ain't ya?"

"I. . .I know. . ."

"It's just a chapter of your life closing and a new one opening. You survived killing the rich kid, you survived leaving me and yer going to Yari, and you'll survive this."

"You been through this many times, haven't you?" Rakka said.

"Are ya ready for me?" A hard finger slipped inside her almost hurting her. She was a little wet, but not enough for smooth penetration.

"I don't think I'm gong to be able to." She replied. Tears slip down her cheeks and she said, "I'm sorry."

"'s' okay." He said into her ear and his hand moved up her body to her shoulder. She felt the air go out of him as if he was getting comfortable beside her. A loud wail interrupted their euphoria. It was loud and demanding. Riddick rolled off the bed and stood in one smooth motion. "When Jack calls you better fuckin' answer."

Rakka listened to him walk into the nursery and come back with a whining Jack. Riddick walked around the bed and into her view and she saw him walk to a case she hadn't noticed before and remove a bottle from it. Riddick gave Jack the nipple which was eagerly accepted and sucked.

Riddick was better at taking care of her baby than she is. Jack didn't need her, he didn't need her at all. She failed Roland, she screwed up Terry's life, and she gave birth to a baby that didn't want her or need her. She made him sick with the flu.

She rolled over and got off the bed. She stood and walked naked to the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower."

"Whatever." Riddick replied.

She into the bathroom and turned the shower on hot as she could stand. She stood over the hot pray of water and let it pierce the cold in her flesh, but it didn't stop the numbness she felt inside her chest. She didn't know how long she stood under the hot water or whether or not she used soap to wash her skin or hair, but she was startled when the door open and Riddick walked. She opened the door and stuck her head out. The shoulder of his black shirt had a white stain trailing down to his chest.

"The little fucker doesn't puke each time I got the damn towel over my shoulder, he fuckin' waits till I don't to let it out." Riddick pulled his shirt over his head and began filling the sink.

"Roland's dead, isn't he?" She said softly turning off the shower.

Riddick paused in his actions to stare at her. "He's alive. I already told you. . ."  
"And you've lied to me before."  
"You think I'm lying about him being alive?"

"Yes."

"Stupid bitch. Remember you told that slut Dame Vaako about Roland, remember?" Riddick dropped his shirt and faced her. "What do you want? Him to be dead?"

"I want to feel something." Rakka said touching her chest. "I feel nothing, Riddick. I should be panicking, crying, worried to death about him, but I don't feel anything."

"It's shock, Rakka, that's all it is. You'll feel it soon."

"I think I died inside." She whimpered. "I feel bad about not feeling bad about Roland and Yari."

Riddick made a sound inside his throat and he turned his attentions back to his shirt which he soaked in the sink. Even looking at his body did nothing for her.

"Jack loves you more then he loves me." Rakka said.

"Yeah, he does. We've been hanging out while you've been out on your ass sick as a dog."

"At least I got better treatment than the last time I was sick around you. Remember back on Haven how you let me crawl around on the floor, in fact you kept me in the bathroom on the cold floor like someone would do for a goddamn dog." She began to get angry at the horrible memory.

"Hey, you ate poisoned food by yourself and you went and got the flu by yourself and gave it to Jack too. Don't blame me for that." Riddick replied wringing out his shirt.

Rakka burst into tears. "I'm sorry I got the baby sick. I love him so much, but he hates me. He knows I made him sick and he hates me."

For a short moment, Riddick looked up at the ceiling as if in silent prayer and then replied, "Yes, the six week old baby hates your motherfuckin' guts and plans on killin' you when he turns two."

"I'm not kidding, Riddick." She whined. "Nothing is going as it should."  
"And how should it go? The universe don't owe you anything. Is it suppose to follow some special little plan you got inside your head?" Riddick was angry with her. "What does the universe owe you to go back into alignment to make you happy_?"_

"Forgive me for being upset." She snapped. . .then she froze. He heard those words before somewhere, but she couldn't remember.

"Yer actin' like a brat."

"Fuck you!" She snapped stepping from the shower. "If you hadn't noticed I've had a whole bunch of shit dumped me in the last two months."

"Shit happens. You ought to be use to it by now."

"I don't want to get use to it. You know, some people spend their whole lives in one small community where the biggest thing that happens is birthdays, parties, and small shit like that."

'We ain't like other people, bitch. Me: I'm the most wanted fucker in the known universe, you: you're a bitch."  
"Fuck you!"

"You said that already." Riddick replied wringing out his shirt.

"You know, there is one positive thing I see here. I'm not being pressured into marrying your ass."

"I agree. I spend enough time listenin' to you bitch as it is." He let the water out of the sink and gathered up his damp shirt.

"I spend enough time around you being an asshole." Rakka snatched a towel from a metal bar and wrapped it around her. "I'm sick of this bullshit I put up with you. You can't show me a little sympathy, just a small bit. My son may be dead or being tortured with people that get their fucking jollies by blowing up planets and you are standing here calling me names and being hateful as you can be to me isn't making it better. You don't care that Roland could be hurt right now, you don't give a fuck."

Riddick threw his shirt on the floor and stepped up to her towering over her. "What the fuck do ya want me to do? Hold you, pat you on the fuckin' back and lie to ya? Tell ya that Roland is just fine, he's gonna be okay and shit? Make ya feel fuckin' better and tell ya everythin' gonna be alright? I can't, cuz I don't know if it's gonna be alright or not. I ain't sure of anythin' unless I kin hold in it in my hands."

"Then what can you do for me?" Rakka pleaded. "Other than give me bad news like this? Throw the bad truth into my face and hurt me."

"Would you rather I lie to you? Sugarcoat it till it doesn't look like what it is? I don't do that. Not for you or for anyone. Ya don't see it for what it is, and then you can't defend against it."

"Riddick, I want to feel safe again." She whimpered. "I want things to go back to the way they were on Yari."

"It's can't. Yari ain't there anymore."

"I hear you saying, but my mind just can't accept it." She retreated back into the shower hugging herself tightly. "I keep waiting to wake up and this is just a bad dream."

"Want me to slap yer ass to see if you wake up?"

She felt the anger drain out of her and she leaned against the shower wall and bent her legs slightly. "I'm sorry. I'm messed up in the head right now. I want to cry and scream, but I can't. It still hasn't hit me yet, or my body hasn't registered my shock yet." She ran her hands over her wet face. "Riddick, what should I do?"

Riddick placed his large hands on either side of the shower's doorway and leaned inside without stepping inside. "Jes relax, take care of Jack, and fuck. Lemme worry about finding Roland."

"You said that the Necromongers could be anywhere." Rakka replied.

"But they are lookin' for me. Rakka, you still don't get the Necromongers. Everything they do is centered around their cult and the Lord Marshal which is me. They can't continue on their fuckin' crusade or shit unless I 'get my shit in gear' in their view or get a new Lord Marshal which they can't do unless someone kills me and replaces me. They gotta find me as much as I need to find them. So all I gotta do is let 'em know where I am and they'll come and find me."

"That's the part that scared me, Riddick." Rakka replied under her breath. "I know they want to kill you and when they do find you there's going to be a lot of fighting and you or Roland might be hurt or killed."

"Nothing ain't gonna happen unless I let it happen." Riddick said harshly.

"I don't want you to use yourself as bait." Rakka said softly.

"Why not?"

"Because! I. . .I don't want you getting hurt or killed." Ralla muttered. "I. . .I need you too, I want you to come back too, Riddick."

There was a long silence between them. She huddled against the back of the shower and him leaning into, both hands on either side of it. She swallowed and felt that she should say more, but she couldn't think of anything more to say. . .or anything she was brave enough to say.

"I'll get him back, Rakka." Riddick said breaking the silence. "And then. . .we'll see what happens next."

Then he disappeared from the shower entrance and she could hear him leaving the suite. She huddled down against shower to the floor and cried.


	57. History

Jack woke up many times that night in demand of milk, diaper changes, and coddling, which Rakka complied readily. She almost wished that Riddick hadn't left. He seemed to be able to handle Jack better than she.

After laying the infant to rest in his crib for the fifth time that night, she checked the time. 3:00 in the morning. Where could Riddick be at this time? Did they give him an extra room?

It wasn't till later that morning that she woke up to see Riddick cradling and feed a very happy and alert Jack. She swung her legs out of bed and moaned, "Good morning. Where have you been?"

"Around." Riddick replied settling Jack against his chest.

"How can he be hungry again?" Rakka asked standing. "I fed him less than. . .three hours ago."

"He's growin'." Riddick replied.

"He also has a temper."

"I told ya that yesterday."

Rakka walked to Riddick and kissed Jack on the cheek. "He loves you."

Riddick didn't reply and said, "They're getting close to Refuge, the planet they said they were taking us to. We'll be there early tomorrow."

"And after that you're going to get Roland?"

"Yeah." Riddick replied. "I'm gonna stick around for a few days though, make sure they're being straight with us. I don't want shit happenin' to you and Jack while I'm dealin' with the shit with Roland."

"I understand." She replied. She still didn't feel the pain and grief for Yari yet. And it was frustrating her. Her friends, the people who had been her family for the last fifteen years were dead and she hadn't managed to shed so much as a tear for them. It still hadn't hit her yet and she couldn't understand why.

"I'm going to order something for us to eat? Want anything?" She asked.

"Naw, I already ate." Riddick replied.

"Can I have him?" Rakka asked holding her arms out.

Riddick got closer to her and started to pass Jack over to her. However, Jack's face began to screw up and a small choking whine escape his lips as he was being taken away from his father.

"Hey, hey, Mommy got you." Rakka whispered holding her son close to her chest, willing the child to accept her.

Jack broke into a scream, his small hands balled into fists and his eyes closed from the exertion of screaming. Rakka quickly passed him back to Riddick and the infant instantly quieted into whimpers.

"He still doesn't love. I took care of him all night and he still doesn't love me." Rakka said, surprised at how calmly she said it.

"Rakka, dammit, you're makin' sound like he owes you."

"He does owe me!" Rakka said feeling angry. God, she was actually angry at a baby, her own baby. "I carried him for nine months! I spent a week in hell in that hospital after he was taken and I left my home to find and I nearly went into a custody battle for him! I think he owes me a little. . ."

"Rakka, lissen to yaself." Riddick said stepping to side jiggling Jack slightly to calm him. "He's a baby. He don't know shit about anythin'."

Rakka ran her hands over her face and sighed, "I know, I know, I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated, that's all."

"It's jes gonna take time for him." Riddick replied. "Are you jealous of me?"

"Yeah, I am." Rakka admitted too tired to try to admit it.

"I bet you had this relationship with Roland."

"So did Terry." Rakka replied.

Riddick didn't say anything, instead turned away from her and carried Jack into the nursery.

Rakka watched his retreating back and wondered, _Was__ Riddick a little jealous of Terry for having a relationship with Roland?_

Rakka spent the day trying to bond with Jack. Sure, he was all up for playing with her, but when it came to feeding and bathing, he preferred Riddick and would scream and scream until his father lifted him up into his large hands and thick arms to be secured to a wide and hard chest.

When she tried to bathe him, he began to scream and Rakka tried to console him and tell him that it was alright and that Mommy had him. He kept screaming angrily until Riddick stepped forward and nudged Rakka out of the way and took over. Jack immediately began to quiet and was peaceful all the while Riddick bathed him. Rakka could only stand by and watch father and son and felt very left out.

She didn't feel better until she got a visit from the Old Queen. She just wheeled into the suite without even knocking. When Rakka walked into the living room and saw her just sitting there, she nearly yelped with fright.

"What? You act like you never seen an elderly lady in a chair." The Old Queen replied.

"No, I. . .I just didn't hear anybody signal or knock!" Rakka gasped, her heart still racing.

"I sneaked in. I was hoping you and that Furyan would be having makeup sex on the couch and I can see how big he is."

"Grandmother!" Rakka was shocked.

"Oh, wanna keep him all to yourself? I don't blame you." Old Queen waved a hand. "Is he here?"

"No, he went out." Rakka replied.

"Good, I want to talk with you, actually give you a lesson on your people's history." The Old Queen wheeled neared the couch and patted. "Have a seat, I have a lot to say to you."  
"Okay, Jack's down for a nap anyway." Rakka said walking around and sitting on the couch.

The Old Queen took a deep swallow and folded her hands on her lap. "Rakka, do you know how the Hitomian race came to be?"

"No, I don't." Rakka replied. "My parents only told me about Hitomi of their time, not of its history."

The Old Queen settled into her chair and said, "You been in school and you've had history lessons. Have you learned about the Great Enslavement?"

Rakka searched around in her memory for the answer. "Yes, that over 1,200 years ago. It was a time when human trafficking was very common. Especially in systems far from the United Interstellar Systems."

"That it was. Having a human slave was as common as having a house pet back then. And do you know what the most popular human slave?"

Rakka thought the answer in her head and was too afraid to say it out loud.

The Old Queen did it for her. "Hitomians. Hitomian women were prized slaves. There wasn't a slave ring that didn't have a good stock in Hitomians."

"What were we before then." Rakka asked.

"We were nothing. Rakka, we were created in labs."

Rakka felt her cheeks and ears go numb with shock. "I don't understand."

"This isn't easy for me to say." The Old Queen said softly. "Have you ever heard of Genetic Engineering?"

"I heard it's illegal to perform on humans."

"Just because it's illegal, doesn't that there aren't people out there doing it anyway." The Old Queen moaned. "And back then they did it all the time. To get the perfect soldiers and slaves. We don't know which lab it was or how, because those records were destroyed to save their asses when the Interstellar community washed through and freed slaves. Do you know how it's done? They take an embryo, a newly fertilized egg, and as it is dividing into cells, they manipulate the genetic structure. They turned out. . . all kinds of things that. . .you wouldn't consider human. They one day created a new type of human a success. An attractive human with beautiful eyes. And they began. . .processing more of them, like it was a goddamn factory."

Rakka couldn't shake the chilling feelings from her face and arms.

"You what kind of Hitomian was the most valued?"

She found her voice and said, "Blue-violet eyes."

"Because they couldn't remake one, not through genetic engineering or through special breeding or cloning or invitro fertilization, it was random and happened only through sexual intercourse between Hitomians. By screwing around with our genetics that made it where we produce mostly baby girls instead of boys. Female Hitomian slaves were considered more valuable than boys as sex and house slaves. Even now we're unable to undo the damage that they caused us."

Rakka parted her dry lips and asked, "When did we become an independent race?"

The Old Queen leaned back into her chair and said, "Our first ancestor, Yula Laotaner, was a very special Hitomian. Not only that she had blue-violet eyes, but we believe that she was part of a lab experiment to create perfect soldiers, because she was able to pilot a star craft." The Old Queen cleared her throat and said, "Now piloting was something a slave was NEVER taught, it was against the law back then to teach any slave how to handle a weapon of any kind much less handle a fighter craft. She escaped using a skiff taking a few of her people with her. They found the planet Hitomi, it was undiscovered and wasn't easy to find. They hid on the planet and Yula would continue to go back and bring more slaves back to Hitomi, little by little till they had a decent size colony and were able to put up a small resistance before the Interstellar community came and stopped the slavery and the systems under their control, mind you, it was a long war that lasted throughout Yula's lifetime. Before she died, she managed to set up a large community on Hitomi and had herself a small family with a Hitomian man named, Hual, and had a daughter named, Suah, who took over for Yula."

The Old Queen swalloed and said, "Dear, could you prepare some tea. My throat is dry from all this talking and I have a lot more to say before I leave."

"Yes, sure." Rakka whispered as she stood up from the couch and made her way around the couch and to the kitchen. As she shakily made the tea, her mind was racing. Her parents NEVER told her any of this and why would they? You wants to know that your race was just an accident of genetic engineering to produce a new type of slave, that your heritage came from the inside of a test tube.

She returned with a teapot and two teacups arranged on a silver tray. She forced herself to steady her hands as she set them on the small coffee table between her and the Old Queen. "So tell me more, what happened after the war ended?" She poured her great grandmother tea.

"Another war started." The Old Queen replied as she accepted her tea. She took a small sip and said, "Your mother taught you how to make tea?"

"Yes, she did."

"Good woman, wish I could have met her. I bet she slapped that creep into place." The Old Queen replied setting her tea on the table. "Back to my story, it wasn't a war of guns and soldiers, it was war of diplomacy. For you see, the Interstellar Community did not want to accept Hitomi as an independent planet with its own people. They wanted us to unite our government with a nearby systems and follow their leaders. Suah spent most of her young life fighting for our independence. She was accepted as the a speaker for our people because of her mother, Yula. The Community refused to give us our independence, claiming that since we were raised as slaves, that we would have no idea how to support ourselves or develop into a member of the Community. But we in turn refused to follow their ORDERS to accept government's ruling. Everyone was afraid that they were to become slaves again except we'll be called a different name: citizens being integrated into society. Thus, they stopped sending us aide: oil, food, medical supplies, clothes, and building material, believing that they could starve us into submission."

"Dear God." Rakka whispered. Her mind was pounding as she absorbed all this information.

"But, the Good Planet Hitomi, provided for us. It held animals, horse like, but had wolfish qualities in their faces and bodies, that were easily domesticated and gentle. We used them to help plow fields and plant crops, we took trees from the forests to build homes of wood, and there were rivers and lakes with fresh water and fish. But those these things were important and saved our lives, what really truly gained our independence was a tiny little creature that only lived on Hitomi. The Rahan Silk Worms whose silk was beautiful, comforting to the skin, strong, and easy to wash without ruining it. We used them to cloth ourselves and we sold the silk for money to buy anything else the planet couldn't provide. Not too long after, we learned about some planets with special healing properties. And we used them and grew them as crop and sold them. While the Community waited for us to waste away, we thrived without their influence. Rakka, do you understand the significance of this?"

Rakka shook her hand, her tea was on the table untouched.

"Rakka, the Interstellar Community has to be the most powerful force in the known Universe. Back then, nothing happens without their permission, especially when it came to developing into a highly technological planet without their influence or aide. We made complete fools of them when we did the impossible. NOONE thought we could do it and laughed when we started out. In less than ten years, we had set up our own government, economy, communications, factories, and was trading with other planets, including the reclusive Furyans. We became independent without them or their aide. To make themselves not look like the fools that they were, they 'gave' us our independence, which Suah accepted, but I would have wiped my ass with it if I had been queen then." The Old Queen took a deep and long breath and released it through her mouth. "It'll take me a whole year to discuss the rest of our history. I need to let you know what's going on now."

"You already said. I have to get married and have a 'savior'." Rakka replied.

"Well, true, but that's not the only complication that you have on your head at this time."

Rakka sat up and straightened her back. "What is it?"

"There's a group of Hitomians not happy that you've been found." The Old Queen said. They are called the Closed Eye, and they have turned their backs on the Sight, Hitomi, and the Royal Family, and they want you dead most of all."


	58. Refuge

"Grandmother, what are you talking about?" Rakka whispered.

"I had hoped to delay telling you this, but you have to know in order to be prepared if, God forbid, they try to harm you." The Old Queen moaned. "After the destruction of Hitomi, it was chaos. We were reeling from shock of the destructions. People were desolate, families were broken and separated, there was grief and so much chaos that it took us years to sort everything out, by then our people had already settled amongst the universe."

"And what about this Closed Eye group?" Rakka snapped getting impatient. "Why the hell would they want me dead? What did I ever do to them?"  
"It's not what you did to them, it's what you are going to do when you assume the role of Queen." The Old Queen replied. "Let me finish explaining. The group was created by a member of the court before the Necromonger attack. His name was Tral Unara and we had thought he had died on Hitomi, however, about five years after his supposed death, he rose up in a group he dubbed the Closed Eye. They believed that since Hitomi was destroyed that they no longer had to follow the old traditions of our people and that it was a new beginning for us all. They are trying to complete a revolution against you and me, the Royal Family. There have been a few assassination attempts on my life over the years and bombings of any Hitomian family compounds that pledged allegiance to the Royal Family."

"Oh God." Rakka murmured. "I had no idea that there was this dispute between the Hitomians."

"You mean us, dear. You're one too." The Old Queen replied.

"I know, I know." Rakka replied irritated. "Why do they want me dead?"

"Because you represent the continuation of the Laotaner bloodline. I'm not much of a threat since I'm much too old to have children, but you, you are young, not young young, but young enough to have children, to have an heir to the throne after you." The Old Queen swallowed and continued. "Rakka, if the Royal Family is dead, finished, then the people have no one to follow, but as long as there is one of us alive, then the Closed Eye have a long and struggling battle ahead of them. But since you are found, a princess with sacred eyes, a woman prophesized to continue the bloodline and produce one who would reunite Hitomi. You are everything they despise, you can easily break apart everything that they have been trying so hard to destroy."

Rakka bent over and clenched her hands into her hair. "Does Riddick know about this?"

"I don't know. No one's told him, but he has ways of finding things out for himself." The Old Queen replied. "Do you think that he should know?"  
"Yes and no." Rakka replied sitting up, her hair slightly messy. "Yes, because if you want protection, then he is the most skilled bodyguard you would ever want and I know that he would protect Jack and I from anything and everything. No, because he would want to stay with me and not leave to find Roland until everything is safe for us. So, again, I'm at a crossroads to pick between my sons."

"Why is that?" The Old Queen asked. "I know what you've done in general, but maybe you can fill in the blanks."  
Rakka told her. She told her how she went to Yari pregnant with Roland and married Terry which they never consummated. Her quickly gloss over her life there, but told her that they were happy and had a healthy life on Yari's colony. About how Riddick suddenly came charging back into her life as the Lord Marshal of the Necromongers and how she later found out she was pregnant with Jack. The decision she and Terry made to keep Jack's true father a secret and allow everyone, including Roland, to logical believe that Terry was the father. Then how Terry's illness began to claim him and how she met Dr. Turner, and then Riddick suddenly popped back because he somehow heard she was pregnant. She finished her tale of how Jack was stolen and the events that brought her here.

"Grandmother, I completely ignored Roland and he believes that I was leaving him to pursue an affair with Riddick and raise Jack somewhere else. At least, that was what he shouted at me before I left. I wanted to call him and set things straight with him, but Riddick said not to, because it could endanger Jack. I. . . I don't know what to do. I'm scared for myself and Jack now, and I also fear for Roland and I know that Riddick could save only one of us and I don't know. . ."

"Listen, listen." The Old Queen touched her shoulders. "Listen to yourself. You're making it sound like Riddick is the only man in the universe that knows how to protect. He isn't. You have the Royal Guard watching out for you as they did when they searched the shuttle and they are not incompetent. They've been protecting me for years and as they will continue to do so for the rest of my life and yours. And also, it is Riddick's overall decision. You trust him to decide what is best?"

Rakka nodded realizing that there were tears on her cheeks. She wiped them away on her fingers and swallowed a growing lump in her throat.

"Then let him decide. If he feels that you are more endanger than Roland, he'll stay with you till the danger is past and if he feels that Roland needs him more than you, then he'll get Roland and come back to you. Dear, you are taking too much on your shoulders than need be."

"Because it is all on my shoulders. Roland, Jack, this princess. . ."

"No. Jack and Roland have TWO parents. You and Riddick. Let Riddick take up his share in the responsibilities for the boys and he has been. He took care of Jack while you were in bed sick, so don't worry about him leaving. He's practically in love with that child, though he doesn't show it." The Old Queen settled back into her chair and said, "As for being a princess, true that its brings as much pressure as being a parent, you are not alone in that. I'll be ruling while you learn the trade as one would call it. And I will give you aide whenever you may need it."

Rakka shook her head. "No, Grandmother, I. . .I DON'T want to rule. My head is still trying to wrap around the fact that I'm a princess! I'm still angry at Riddick for knowing all these years and not telling me and now I'm a little angry at my father for never telling us about who he truly was."

The Old Queen rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and said, "I never thought that I would ever have to defend that little creep." She lowered her head and spoke directly to Rakka, "Who do you think he truly was?"

"Well, you know and I know. He was really a prince." Rakka replied impatiently.

"I'd thought he was your father? Didn't he treat you as his daughter?"

"Yes, he did."

"Then that's who he truly was. A young man, that hated being born into the royal family, got a chance to escape when his home planet was destroyed, married a nice farm girl and had you."

"He should have told us!" Rakka moaned.

"Maybe, but he didn't. Why? We may never know, but we can get an idea. He maybe was afraid to reveal himself. Afraid that the Necromongers would come for him to finish the job or afraid that he would be taken back into the Family. Or maybe he was afraid that your mother would think differently of him, wouldn't see him as Luac Laotaner the man that loved her, but as the Royal Family Prince, her ruler."

"Why didn't mother recognize the Laotaner name?" Rakka asked suddenly confused.

"Well, my guess is that she lived in what we called the Hicks. There are areas of Hitomi where they are so rural and far away from any cities that they live under their own rules, but are peaceful and pay taxes they can afford and such, however ignorant of the Royal Family. When he must have told her his name, she didn't recognize it at all and thought him just another survivor as herself."

"So he just never bothered to tell Mother the truth." Rakka murmured.

"We'll never know what was going through his thick skull." The Old Queen said. "That's something we'll have to ask him when we crossover on our deaths."

"So is just so much to take in. I got Jack back and he doesn't love me, I'm a princess, and now there's a group out there that wants me dead." Rakka replied. "I haven't been this stressed out since that bounty. . . God, that was years and years ago."

"You and he sure are gunners for trouble." The Old Queen agreed.

There was a small wail from the bedroom that alerted Rakka's attention. She stood from the couch nearly upsetting her tea on the table. "Excuse, Jack is calling."

The Old Queen nodded and said, "Of course, go on."

Rakka hurried into the nursery past her bedroom. Jack was crying, tiny fists clenched and mouth opened emitting wails. She lifted him into her arms and checked his diaper. "No one likes to sleep with a dirty diaper, baby." She said sweetly to him and carried him to the changing table. Jack began to calm as soon as is soiled diaper was removed. Rakka arranged a fresh new one on him and buttoned is bodysuit back on.

Jack began to wiggle and seemed too alert to want to go back to sleep, so Rakka carried him into the living room. The Old Queen looked up and said, "Is that my great-great-grandson?"

"Yes." Rakka held him securely while she sat down on the couch.

"This one is going to be just like his father." The Old Queen said firmly. "It's the second child that's going to be the little trouble maker. You're going to have to watch him."

"He is pretty demanding once he gets going and he knows what he wants." Rakka admitted stroking Jack's small hand with her thumb.

"Have you given any thought on what I said about you marrying?" The Old Queen asked.

"No!" Rakka sharply replied. "I'm not going through with it."

"Poor dear, you are so unprepared for what awaits you in the Court of Refuge." The Old Queen sighed. "I hope you're not allergic to flowers."

* * *

Early the next morning, the ship finally arrived in orbit of Refuge. It was a planet the size of Earth, but it held more land than water. The land masses were interlace with many rivers and 30 percent of the land was marshes and swamps. However, the other 70 percent was wonderful for growing crops without worry of drought or lack of water. The mansion was within the northern hemisphere of the planet where during this planet's season was snowing.

* * *

Last night, Rakka spoke to Riddick about the Closed Eye. He had sat on the couch listening to her talking and licked his upper lip and said, "I know all about that."

Rakka stared at him blankly. She had been pacing the living room after putting Jack down for the night. "What?"  
"I knew about the Closed Eye group." Riddick replied leaning back into couch. "You don't be a leader for several years without hearing about a radical group like them."

"And you know they would want to kill me?"

"Yeah."

"And you didn't tell me this?"

"You had enough to stress out over as it is." Riddick replied shrugging.

"Dammit!" She yelled. She stood in front of him glaring venomously at him. "Well?"

"What?" He looked at her, his goggles always masking his eyes from her.

"Anything else you're keeping from me?" She asked through her teeth. "Well, come on, out with it. You kept from me the fact that I was a princess for the last fifteen years and now this shit. Anything else I should know?"

"No, that's it."

"I seem to recall in the back of my mind from long, long ago that I asked you this same thing and you gave me that same answer before. Were you lying to me then?" Rakka was furious with him, so furious she felt like screaming.

Riddick straightened his shoulders and said, "I guess I was."

"Isn't that unusual for you? Since you like being so painfully truthful to everyone around you."

"Then maybe I wasn't lyin'." Riddick leaned forward. She felt his eyes on her. "You asked 'anything else I should know', and I didn't think that you should know. . ."

"I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!" Rakka screamed. No, no way was Riddick going to explain his way out this.

Then, before she could continue, a familiar wail burst from the nursery. Riddick stood sleekly to his feet. "You woke 'im up." He turned toward the bed room.

"I'll get him." Rakka said quickly walking forward.

"He's not gonna want you." Riddick gave her push back and entered the bedroom. Rakka nearly stumbled and caught herself against the doorway of the bedroom. She watched Riddick disappear into the nursery.

That was it. That was the last straw. She was already angry that Riddick had a close bond with HER baby and that HER baby prefer this man to her. This man had kept lying to her and hurting her. And it didn't help that her baby's cries were quieting down without her. The baby didn't need her, didn't want her at all.

Riddick came back into the bedroom. "He's asleep again."  
"Good." Rakka replied. "I'm going to bed."

Riddick's dark eyebrows arched and he said, "What? You ain't gonna bitch at me more?"

"No, what's the point. You're not gonna care no matter what I say or do as long as it doesn't hurt Jack." Rakka went to a dresser and pulled opened a drawer. "So, this group doesn't change anything?"

"No. I'm gonna stick around and make sure you and the kid are okay." Riddick replied.

"If I. . .was killed." Rakka said pulling out a nightgown from the drawer. "What are you going to do?"

"You're not gonna get killed."

"IF I get killed!" Rakka snapped. "I want to hear what you plan to do for Jack and Roland."

"You're not gonna get killed." Riddick repeated firmly.

"Goddammit!" She turned on him throwing the night gown on the bed. "Who are you? God? You can predict the fucking future? Well, let me make it easier for you. Let's just pretend in our imaginations," Rakka tapped her temple, "that I get killed. What would you do for Roland and Jack?"

Riddick tightened his jaw and said, "Surely you went ahead and set up a trust fund for them? You're a rich bitch now, remember? Go ahead and set up money for them to have when they grow up and money if somethin' happens to you."

"Okay. I'll do that tomorrow." Rakka nodded. "But who is going to raise them? Make sure they go to good schools, take care of them, and love them. Anybody I would have allowed to have custody is dead on Yari. I know NOBODY within the Hitomian race, except Grandmother, and she's so old."

"You're not gonna get killed." Riddick said yet again.

"And you're going to be keeping me from being killed?" Rakka asked crossing her arms beneath her breasts.

"Yeah." Riddick crossed his arms too.

"Get the hell out. I'm going to bed." She said picking up her nightgown. She turned her back on him and pushed her pants down her legs. Riddick watched her for a moment and left the suite as she removed her shirt.

* * *

Now she was sitting beside him with Jack's carrier between their hips, not even looking at him. They got boarded a shuttle that would take them to Refuge along with the Old Queen, Hera, and three bodyguards.

The Old Queen studied them and said, "You had a fight last night, didn't you?"  
Rakka eyed Hera and the guards and said, "I don't feel comfortable tal. . ."

"Don't worry about them." The Old Queen said waving at them. "They're under oath that whatever they hear or see in court or private rooms, stay in private rooms unless they under orders by the Council to give witness statements. If they break their oath, they're arrested for treason."

"I still don't want to talk about it." Rakka whispered.

"She's being a bitch about that I knew about the Closed Eye and didn't tell her about them." Riddick said suddenly.

Rakka shot him a searing look and the Old Queen rolled her pale eyes to the ceiling and said. "I guess now would be an alright time to tell you that you two have been given separate rooms."

"Wonderful." Rakka replied, not even looking at Riddick.

"It's better this way, since you're suppose to be available, Rakka."

Rakka didn't reply, instead she refused to look at either Riddick or the Old Queen.

The shuttle landed within a private garage of the mansion. The mansion itself was tall and wide, with gaping gardens and crystal windows.

The grand front doors opened up to a wide carpeted stairway. Pictures, glass mirrors, flowers, and statues lined the walls. Everything looked expensive and new, that the house itself had to be worth hundreds of millions.

Rakka was led to her bedroom with a nursery attached. It resembled her suite on the Titania except without a kitchen. However, inside the suite was packed with boutiques and vases of different color roses and a variety of flowers she didn't recognize. Each collection had a engraved card with beautiful cursive writing welcoming her back to the Court and wishing her well since word was out that she had been sick.

She looked around with a wide eyed Jack in her arms. She even leaned forward and smelled the fragrance of a spectacular boutique framed with baby's breath. She took a flower from the vase and waved it in front of his face. Jack stared at the rose fascinated blue eyes wide.

"It looks like a greenhouse." Rakka remarked.

The Old Queen had wheeled in behind her and said, "Like I said, I hope you aren't allergic. You better get use to this since there are about a dozen ambitious unmarried men in the Court."

Rakka clenched her jaw and replied, "I'm not going to talk about that."

The Old Queen sighed and said, "Get settled in today. Tomorrow is your introduction to the Court."

"What?" Rakka turned to her great grandmother, her jaw dropping. "I just got here."

"I know, that's why it's tomorrow night and not tonight."

"It's going to be formal, isn't it?" Rakka asked.

"Very formal, but we have your dresses all picked out and so forth."

"I am not comfortable about this." Rakka said shifting Jack to her other arm.

"Nor am I." The Old Queen said. "The Court is best described as a cesspool of hungry and greedy sharks just waiting for you to stick a foot in. And you're going to have to jump in head first."

"Is Riddick invited?" Rakka asked not knowing why she wanted to know this.

"Not exactly, but he won't be stopped if he chooses to come."

"I don't think he will." Rakka said. "He isn't exactly into the nicer ends of society."

"I better let you unpack." The Old Queen said as she turned her wheelchair around to face the exit. "I had them collect your suitcases from Catica and I think you'll be more comfortable wearing you old clothes around your rooms. They're over there by the door."

The Old Queen left the rooms and Rakka put Jack in his crib hoping he'll take a quick nap. She dragged a case onto the bed and unlocked it. As she lifted the lid, she winced at how unkept her clothes had became. This was the case she had with her in the hospital after she gave birth to Jack. She only opened it to throw some stuff in after. . . that ordeal with Dr. Turner.

Rakka ignored the creepings of fear down her spine and began to take out the clothes that were too big for her now. They were her maternity clothes during her pregnancy with Jack. Damn, how happy she had been. She had such plans for Jack on Yari and plans with Roland. She was so stupid back then, so damn trusting. During her time on Yari, she had softened, had become too trusting and let that bitch set and spread into her life like a parasite, a cancer.

It felt a like a dream, her being happy. She remembered it as if it was a dream she had last night, but faint and hard to remember as if it was covered in a fog.

She wondered whether or not she should have these washed before she tried wearing them when she froze in mid folding of a shirt. Between a layer of clothes were several cards. They were done in crayon, markers, and glitter. There was loose glitter clinging to her pants and shirts.

She lifted one out and opened it. There were colorful pictures drawn in crayon and her name with the words GET WELL SOON. There was a small name beneath it and it was Ronald Edfar. It had been sent to the hospital when she was diagnosed with placenta previa and had to stay in the hospital with Terry.

The pain and the lost that was so missing finally came. She choked on a sob and the memory of Ronald Edfar came to her mind. He was one of her children in the daycare. He had cried when he first came, it was the first time in his short life being separated from his parents. Rakka had taken him into her arms and held him. Even read him a story to console him and he eventually fell asleep with his head on her shoulder.

Hot tears splattered onto the card and she sniffed hard through her nose. That little boy was dead now. He was never going to cry for his parents, be read to again, or yell joyously 'Mommy' when his mother came to pick him up at the end of the day.

"I'm a mommy." Rakka whimpered without realizing that she did so.

She cried. More than she ever had in her life. She cried for Alia, Sarabi, their children, their husbands, the children in the daycare, their parents, Roland's school friends, his teachers, the doctors and nurses in the hospital, and everyone she could remember seeing or meeting on Yari.

She had vomited a few times into the sink and toilet. She cleaned up her mess each time. When Jack begged for attention she gave it to him coldly. Not talking to him in high baby talk or playing with him whole heatedly.

She was very glad when Riddick came in. He didn't knock or buzz himself in. In fact, when the door just slide opened she caught a small glimpse of bodyguards recovering on the floor of the corridor outside her door.

She knew she looked horrible from all the crying she had done, but she was sure that Riddick didn't care at all.

"You look like shit." Riddick said as the door slide shut behind him hiding the wounded guards outside.

"What happened to the guards?" Rakka asked choosing to ignore his comment.

"Said I couldn't see my bitch and my kid until tomorrow at some party or some shit." Riddick replied. "It finally hit you hard, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it did, real hard." Rakka murmured unconsciously wiping at her eyes. "I. . .it was real bad."

"How's Jack?"

"He's okay. I think that I. . .may have freaked him out a little. I wasn't being myself with him."

"What do you think about this party?" Riddick asked settling himself onto the couch.

"I don't want to go."

"Then don't."

"I don't know." Rakka said running her hands over her face. "I feel like I should. I mean, I am their 'princess' and look at all these flowers." She spread her hands out to the boutiques and vases surrounding the room. "It just feels rude if I don't go."

"Jes tell 'em yer sick."

"Yeah, and I'm sure I'll be swamped by more flowers." Rakka moved to a grand armchair and sat down in it. "I feel. . .I just feel cried out right now and I know that I'm going to have a bad night tonight." Riddick's eyebrows arched and a small, small grin touched his lips. She opened a door for him and he was about to charge right through it. "Riddick, I don't think that they're going to like for us to share the same room tonight."  
"Since when did I ever give a fuck about what other people liked?" Riddick replied and he moved sleekly from the couch and towards her.

He stood over her and she had to lean back and tilted her head back to see his face, his silvery eyes hidden from her by twin suns of darkness. Hard and cruel fingers touched her hand and cheek. The came around to curve along her jaw, a thick thumb rubbing her lips. He always touched her lips whenever he wanted her to give him oral sex.

She wrested her face away from his hand and said, "I'm not in the mood."

"You know I always put you in the mood one way or another." He replied stepping close enough his shins were against her knees.

His scent overwhelmed her sense of smell and she leaned back in her chair to put distance between them. He leaned over her, large hands on either side of her head on the head of the chair. What he was going to do or say, she didn't know for that Jack chose that time to start crying from his nursery.

Riddick leaned away from her and turned his attention to the wails. "I'll get 'im."

He walked away from her and disappeared into her bedroom. Rakka took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She felt so unusually tired and felt like taking a long bath and possibly going to bed. Riddick would watch Jack for her if she asked him too. About the only he would do for her willingly.

* * *

She woke up the next morning. Jack was gone, but she wasn't worried. Riddick had taken him with him to his room along with his carrier and a supply of formula. Last night was bad. She kept having dreams and nightmares. Dreams which were really memories of her early times on Yari within House 22. Others were horrific and detailed nightmares of Yari being destroyed.

She got up and showered under hot water. She then ordered a light breakfast from the com attached to the wall. The food was delivered promptly by bowing maids on a rolling cart. The maids even laid the food out for her on the dining table despite her insistence that she could do it herself. They wanted to stand around her, revealing her juice when became less than half full, but she told them to leave and let her be for now. Then she thought about it and asked them to send word to Riddick that she was ready to have Jack brought back to her.

By the time she had finished with breakfast, Riddick came in with Jack tucked into the crook of his arm. This time she didn't see any guards wounded on the floor outside her room. She reached out and took her child into her arms. "How was he?"

"Fine." Riddick replied.

"Riddick, if I go to the party tonight, will you watch Jack for me?"

"Yeah."

She carried Jack over to the couch and sat comfortably with Jack settled on her lap. "How do you feel about them wanting me to marry? You know, marry some Hitomian aristocrat?"

"You said you didn't want to talk about it?" His voice said from behind her.

"I know, but it might be something we might have to face. . ."

"We? You got a rat in your pocket?" Riddick appeared around the couch, staring at her. "They don't want me to marry. . ."

"I know that!" Rakka snapped. "But think about it. They are really determined on me choosing some Hitomian male and getting married. How is it going to impact us if I do so?"

"You said that you weren't."

"I don't know." Rakka replied. "I said that because I was still thrown by suddenly finding out I'm a princess and I don't want to be apart of some asshole's way of becoming king. What I'm worried about is how it's going to affect the kids."

Riddick placed his huge frame in the arm chair away from her. He didn't reply, but his eyes stayed on her. He then finally said, "The Queen Bitch said that they don't have any hold to the throne, but they would lack for anythin'. So they'll be taken care of no matter what, but I would still set up a trust fund for 'em, incase anythin' happens."

"I will do that today." Rakka said solemnly. "About how much?"

"Fuck, I don't know. See how much of it you can use for your self and turn it into trust funds. We kin sweat out the terms and the rules about it later."

Rakka rocked her upper body back and froth, rocking Jack. "I thought about it, you know, about getting remarried ever since you said that I should find someone else, that night. . .when you told me about your. . .past."

Riddick shifted in his chair, knees apart and both arms on the armrests. "So?"  
"I didn't really give it much though till last night, when I was alone and able to 'meditate' and. . . .I even prayed on what I should do. I always thought. . .believed that I could go back to Yari after I got Jack back and go from there. Now, there is no Yari to go back to and I am now the Hitomian Princess of the Royal Family. I think I am just now beginning to accept that and it scares the hell out of me. I guess. . . not trying to sound petty or greedy, but I am glad that I got a good deal of money. Back on Yari, with Terry, we weren't rich, but we didn't go hungry, however, there were a lot of things I wished I could have given Roland and now I am able to for both of them."

Rakka held Jack tightly to her chest and said, "Now, don't think I'm going to let them become spoiled brats that think they can get away with everything and anything because their mother is a princess. Having money means that I'm going to have to be more strict with them and give them only the things they need, not what they want."

"You're not sayin' anythin' about the marriage deal." Riddick said firmly into her head.

"I always wanted a dream marriage. A great guy that would support me and love me and I can do the same for him. We'll love the kids together and raise them. That's was. . .something I could have had with Terry. . .dammit, he was those things to me. He loved Roland as if he was his own and he loved me, it was me that didn't love him, at least not in the way he wanted." Rakka wiped her eyes and said, "I don't think I was ever meant to have a fairy tale marriage, so I'm going to have to be reasonable and realistic about my options."

"And that is?" Riddick asked.

"I am going to that party tonight. I don't want to go and I know I will be miserable and maybe scared going, but I can't hide and I have to be strong. At least let that damn Court know that I am not going to be a pushover for them and let any would be groom know what the full package is. They have to decent, good natured, and accept my boys. If they so much as whisper a word about them being sent away to some boarding school, I will walk away from them and burn any cards or roses they send my way. If I have to match their standards as a princess, then by God, the husband I have to marry better match my standards."

"You've grown." Riddick said and Rakka took it as a compliment.

"Thank you."

"Roland won't like it."

"I know, but I am going to wait a while before I rush into anything. I know I am not young and my child bearing days are going to end soon, but, dammit, if I have to have someone's baby then, it's going to be my way or no way."  
"And what if the third baby is mine?" Riddick said.

Rakka popped her head up and stared at him. "What?"

"What if the next kid is mine anyway?"

"Riddick, last time, the thought of us having a third child pissed you off badly. Why do you ask me that?"  
"What about the whole prophecy thing?" Riddick asked. "Our next kid is gonna be their voodoo savior and shit and its got to be from us."

"Really." Rakka replied. "So I'm either being pulled by a prophecy or by some power hungry nobles. I don't think my life is my own anymore."

"Then who do you want your life to belong to?" Riddick asked. "That is, if it doesn't belong to you."  
"My kids." Rakka replied automatically.

"You already have their lives, at least for now while they're young and can't take care of themselves." Riddick leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, hands loosely hanging between his legs. "I've been doin' some thinkin' last night."

"Oh?" Rakka said.

"I don't see myself leavin' you anytime soon. It's gonna take a while to sort this Necromonger shit out, and I'm gonna leave you and Jack to the wolves of this Court shit. And yer gonna hafta deal with this Closed Eye shit too. I think we're gonna be together for a while at least."

"That's good, Riddick, Jack loves you and would miss you when you left." Rakka replied.

"Yeah, and if you were to get killed ( which ain't gonna happen. . . unless I do it ) I would get automatic custody of the kids."

"Riddick, what are you saying?"

"Let's go piss off some rich and royal fucks and get married."


	59. Consideration

Rakka stared at him very stunned. "Riddick, did you just give me a bizarre proposal?"

"Proposal?" Riddick laughed. "It's jes a suggestion."

"So you weren't being serious?"

"I'm serious." Riddick replied.

"You mean, really get married. The whole exchanging of vows, you may kiss the bride, throwing rice, and me being your wife and you being my husband?" Rakka's head was spinning. "You mean the whole thing?"

"I dunno about the wedding thing. Religion and I don't mix, but hell, I've been in plenty of courtrooms and in front of judges."

Rakka stared at him stunned, but then she threw back her head and laughed. Images ran through her head. She could just see herself wearing a wedding dress and Riddick dressed in his usual attire of black shirt, loose pants, boots, and goggles standing facing each other in front of a preacher saying their vows.

Hers: _I vow to put of with your bullshit for as long as I may live. I promise to love, honor, and cherish you as much as you do so for me._

His: _I vow not to kill you from behind. I promise to put the kids first, me second, my dick third, and you fourth. And I vow to put up with your bitchin' for as long as it takes me to get my shiv and stab it in your throat._

Oh, God, she could see the guests. Hitomians on her side with Jack in his carrier and Roland slouched forward sulking. The Old Queen was sitting along the pew in her wheelchair watching them with gleaming pale eyes And on Riddick's side were convicts in orange jumpsuits with guards standing around with clubs and guns in hand watching them steely eyes.

_"If anyone should have any reason why these two should not unite in matrimony, speak now or forever hold your piece."_

Roland would jump up to shout, but the Old Queen would whack him back into his seat with a cane that would come out of no where.

Rakka came back to reality in a fit of giggles and Jack stared at her in wide eye fascination. Riddick was staring at her too. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing." She sighed, thrusting the giggles downwards. "I. . .I never imagined us getting married. Oh God, we never even went out to dinner, not even a date. I don't know if we even like each other."

"It wouldn't last." Riddick replied. "We could leave the window open for an easy divorce or an annulment. Keep our assets separate and our shit divided. We could sign a contract stating that when we divorce everything is spilt down the middle, but you get custody of the kids, but I get regular visitation rights along with child support. Fuck, I'll even help set up their trust funds and college."  
Rakka stared at him and said, "You want to marry me, but you're already planning for a divorce?"

"Jes planning for the bad." Riddick replied leaning back into his chair. "Do you actually think it would last between us the way we fight?"  
"We always get back together one way or another." Rakka replied. "Are you wanting to marry me to keep me away from another man?"

Riddick didn't reply, just shifted slightly in his chair.

Rakka leaned forward, Jack tucked against her stomach. "Riddick, just admit it. You can't stand the idea of me sleeping with another man, Jack calling him Daddy and not you, and just being the man of this family."

"We're a family?" Riddick asked.

"Aren't we?" Rakka sat up and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm Jack's Mommy and you're his father and he's the baby. I guess we do qualify as a family in the sense of the word."

"Shit." Riddick sighed leaning his head back. "Never thought. . .I had to deal with this shi. . .stuff."

"Excuse me? Were you just about to say shit?" Rakka asked cocking her head.

"Yeah."

"Excuse me if you think family is shit. I know you never been apart of one, but you were the one asking me to marry you."

"I didn't mean it like that." Riddick snapped. "I never thought I would ever be apart of one or start one in this case."

Rakka swallowed and turned her attention back to Jack who had been cooing to himself. She tickled his belly and said, "But are you serious about. . .marriage?"

"Yeah."

"God, if I married you then I'll be Rakka Laotaner Riddick married to Richard B. Riddick." Rakka regard Riddick with a long look and said, "You know, I never ever called you by your first name, have I, Richard?"

It felt strange having that common name roll off her tongue and knowing that it was this enigmatic man's first name. They stared at each other and Rakka felt embarrassed as if she had done something silly. "I'm sorry, Riddick."  
"No, it's fine." Riddick replied. "I haven't been called Richard since I was in Juvenile detention. It started when I was thrown into the military, there if you aren't called by a number, you're labeled as your last name."

"I see." She replied. "Roland once asked me why I called you Riddick instead of your first name. I can't remember whether I gave him the answer or not or maybe I didn't know myself."

"You can call me whatever." Riddick replied,

"I would like to continue calling you Riddick, but if we get married. . .I'm going to sound like one of those old fashioned wives that call their husbands by their last names."

A grin broke out on Riddick's face and he tilted his head, "So you yer thinkin' about sayin' yes."

"I don't know." Rakka admitted. "I. . . I want to say no way, but I keep thinking that. . .it could work out, that is if we keep the divorce option open. Oh God! I don't know about this."

"The kid's asleep." Riddick said.

She looked down and sure enough Jack had fallen asleep on her lap. "I think I better take him to the nursery."

She stood, careful not to wake Jack and carried him to the nursery. Her mind was racing. Did it really happen? Did Riddick really propose to her? Was she going to say no or yes to him? Was this some joke.

After she carefully placed Jack into the crib and covered him with a thin blanket, she hurried back to the living room. Her mind was spinning with thoughts and images. Could she take that leap, that step off the cliff? Oh God, if she said yes, then she would be marrying an escape convict, the Lord Marshal of the Necromongers, and a Furyan. She would have the sex relationship she never had with Terry, but what about the emotional part?

Riddick was standing when she got back. He watched her stand in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. "Riddick, I. . .I'm still thrown. I mean. . .tell me why you think we should get married?"

"You tell me why you're thrown?" Riddick replied.

"Oh no." Rakka held up her hands. "No, you are not going to avoid the question. I want to know why you think we should get married? You answer me this one question and I'll answer any questions you give."

"We fuck enough as it is." Riddick replied.

"But don't they say that sex ends after you get married?" Rakka asked.

"Don't gotta be that way for us."

"You mean for you." Rakka said stepping forward. "You're going to sleep around on me, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

"I won't like that."

"You never like anythin' that I do." Riddick replied.

"Then I get to sleep around too."

"Over their dead bodies."

"You better give me a better reason to marry you." Rakka said shifting her feet.

"The kids."

"Jack loves and Roland. . .still had problems about us. . .God, when do you think you're going to get him?" Rakka hugged herself tightly.

"Soon, they're not gonna hurt 'im." Riddick replied. "They need him."

"But that won't stop them from hurting him or traumatizing him!" Rakka whimpered. She had been so calm before she remembered Roland's predicament.

"He'll deal, the same way we had to deal." Riddick replied.

"He's FOURTEEN years old. He just a child!"

"Fourteen, that's old enough to have sex, smoke, drink, have a kid, shoot a gun, kill a person, steal a hover, rape, and. . . "

"Goddammit, Riddick!" Rakka yelled. "I know all that shit and I am glad that up to when we left Yari that he has never experienced ANY of those things. With you as his father, are you going to keep him away from those things? And Jack too?"

"Hell if I know."

"Then why use them as an excuse to get married." Rakka wanted to scream till her throat became raw. "I don't know about there can be an 'us'. We're not even a couple, I don't we're even lovers. Sex partners sure, but. . ."

"You've been lackin' in that part." Riddick turned away from her.

Rakka felt herself explode in rage. "Well, FUCKING EXCUSE ME! I've been stressed out for the last several fucking days. I get my baby back, I'm the Royal Family fucking princess, my eldest has been kidnapped by a race that's known for wiping out all life on planets, and I am being pressured into marriage!" She rubbed her face with both hands and hissed through her teeth. "No, I am not marrying you. You have no sympathy whatsoever for my feelings!"

"Why should I? I thought the important thing was the kids."

"Yes, they are the most important factor in this, but after them, what about me?" She asked.

Before the argument could continue, a maid tentatively entered the room. She wore the usual black robe with a long white apron. Her golden brown hair was done up in curls atop of her head and her Hitomian eyes were gold. "Madame, a letter had arrived for you."

Both Rakka and Riddick turned their heads to stare at her. Rakka was the first to speak. "A letter? A letter as in paper message? With folded paper and a sealed envelope?"

"Yes, Madame." The maid held up, what was sure enough was, a white letter. She approached Rakka with it held out in offering.

Rakka accepted it and stared at it. Written on the front was handwritten in elegant cursive writing was TO THE LOVELY PRINCESS RAKKA LAOTANER.

My God, in this day and age, every message was sent by signals, electronic devices, and the Net. The last time she ever received a message by paper was in grade school, where they scratched notes onto little slips of paper and passed them around. That was when they were too young to be responsible for personalized school laptops where high school students secretly sent instant messages to each other during long lectures.

She broke the seal on the back of the envelope and opened it. Inside the folded paper was an encased letter and a long gold chain with a heart shape locket with a small ruby embedded in the center. "Oh my God." She smiled staring at it, her face was flushing with pink and she felt as if she had dipped her head into a pot of warm water. She felt too embarrassed to reach the letter.

"Thank you for bringing it to me." Rakka said to the maid. The maid bowed herself out of the room. Rakka kept her eyes on the necklace. "I haven't received a gift like this since high school. God, is this stone real?"  
"So you got some in high school?" Riddick interrupted her thoughts.

"If you mean, I had boyfriends, yes, I dated in high school, but they never got everywhere below my waist."

"What about them? You get below THEIR waist?"

"No, they did themselves after the date."

There was a pause for one second, and then they both started laughing. She set herself backwards into the couch and said, "God, Riddick, let me think about it, okay. After the party, I might have an answer for you. But we keep the divorce option open, right? Whether or not I say yes?"

"Yeah, that is the plan."


	60. Wealth

Riddick left after that. Rakka took a bubble bath. As she soaked in the thick white foam her mind thought about Riddick's proposal. God, she thought humans would grow wings and fly long before Riddick ever gave her a marriage proposal. What should she do? She couldn't tell whether she would be better off marrying someone from the court or marrying Riddick.

What was going through his mind when he gave her that bizarre proposal? It sure sounded like a proposal he would give. _Why don't we go piss off some rich and royal fucks and get married?_

She sunk further into the long tub till only her head could be seen above the white bubbles. Her copper blonde hair floated in the water around her head and face. She crossed her arms over her breasts let the heat seep into her skin. If she wasn't afraid she would drown, she would take a nap right there.

It would be good for Jack and it would also legitimize both him and Roland. It would definitely make all the sex she and Riddick would be alright and any future liaison between them not sinful.

She ran her hand down her belly, over her navel, and thought about Riddick's hard hands on her. His hands were calloused either from surviving in the outdoors or years of handling tools, or from not using lotion, she didn't know. Her hand continued over her lower belly to the apex of her legs.

Her fingers slip between her outer folds to her clitoris. She closed her eyes while her fingers light stroked her clit in a circular motion. She propped her feet up in the edge of the tub and spread her knees apart. She liked to masturbate in a hot bath. Hell, she only took a bath to get sleepy, shave her legs, and masturbate after bathing.

She curled her toes as she alternated between circular motions and up and down. At first the touch didn't mean anything, but ad she kept at it began to send waves of pleasure through her body. Her free hand slide up her side and grasp a breast. She gave it a small squeeze before rolling her thumb over her nipple. The small current of water brushed against the sensitive nub as she switched her hand over the next breast.

She moved her hand from her crotch so she was able to handle both breasts. The balls of her thumbs rubbed over her nipples in circular motions, occasionally giving them a hard squeeze.

She couldn't help, but feel that there was something she should be doing. Something she promised Riddick. . .the trust funds. Damn.

She relaxed her hands to her sides and sighed slowly. She might as well get it done now so she wouldn't have to worry about it later. She rose out of the water and rinsed her genitals before stepping out of the tub. She slipped into a long bathrobe and exited the bathroom to nearly scream in shock at a waiting maid standing nearby.

"My God, you nearly scared me to death!" Rakka gasped holding a hand over her pounding heart.

"Forgive me, Madame Laotaner." The maid bowed. She was the same maid that had delivered her the letter. "I was waiting to see if you would need my assistance."

"You didn't need to wait, you could have asked me, not lay out here in wait!" Rakka snapped feeling very unnerved. Oh God, what if? What if this girl saw what she had been doing in the tub?

"Please, forgive." The maid replied in a cracking voice.

Oh, shit, she was actually scaring this woman. "No, no, it's. . .okay, you just scared me."

"I am very sorry." The maid replied.

"Why are you here in my rooms?" Rakka asked.

"I was assigned to you just an hour ago, Madame." The maid said. "My name is Rera."

"Rera? Okay, is Jack okay?" Rakka asked.

"Yes, Madame, he needed a change before he took a nap." Rera nodded.

"Thank you, ummmm. . . I need to see. . . someone about money?" Rakka ventured.

"Money? Highness?" Rera asked respectfully.

"I want to. . .set up trust funds for my children." Rakka explained. "I need to see someone about setting that up."

"Oh, yes, you'll want to see you financier." Rera replied. "One hasn't been assigned to you yet."

"When will one be?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, but I could find out for you." Rera offered eagerly. "I'm sure that your Head Housekeeper, Yilda, can find one for you."

"Wait, Head Housekeeper?"

"Yes." The girl shifted her feet and said, "She has been the Head Housekeeper long before the destruction of Our Home Hitomi and she has taken over your rooms and began signing workers for you."  
"When did this happen?"

"After you moved into your rooms, Highness." The maid replied looking nervous as if Rakka would go into a tantrum and hit her.

"I'm not mad." Rakka said quickly holding up her hands as if showing she held no weapon. "I'm just surprised is all. I didn't know that. . .all of this was going on."

"Yes, Highness." Rera replied as if she didn't believe her.

"So go tell. . .uh. . .Yilda that I need to speak with a financier as soon as possible."

Yes, Highness."

Rera dutifully bowed and left the hallway. Rakka watched her go still stunned. Ever since she discovered she was a princess, it was one shock after another. She still couldn't believe that she princess, with wealth, suitors, mansion, a very old grandmother, and now servants.

She headed back to her bedroom. She dried and brushed her hair and then got dressed in a small burgundy dress. The skirt reached down to below her knees and button up the front. It had a thick sash she tied around her waist with the bow in the back. She felt like she was dressed for church, but it would be fine for meeting with someone to set up two trust funds.

A wail commanded her to step into the nursery. Jack was begging for attention which she gave gladly. She was shaking a set up jingly rings for him when Rera appeared at the doorway and said, "Your financier, Alexandria Talon, is waiting for you in the living room, Your Highness."

"Oh, thank you." Rakka said handing her Jack. "Just play with him for a while and then he might get hungry. You know where the formula is kept, right?"  
"Yes, Madame."

Rakka said 'bye-bye' to Jack and went into the living room to discuss business. There sitting on the couch spreading papers and had a briefcase by her side was a woman who wasn't Hitomian. She had dark brown hair with dark eyes. She wore a dark business suit and her hair was styled straight and hung about her shoulders.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Laotaner, or shall I call you Princess?" The woman asked in an English accent.

"No, Mrs. Laotaner will do." Rakka said hastily and lowered herself into the couch away from her.

"I was told you were interested in setting up a trust fund for your sons? Roland and Jack?"

"Yes." Rakka answered. She crossed her legs and wished she had done more with her hair. "You see, if you don't already know the story, I. . .I just found out I was a princess earlier this week and. . .I have never had. . .I've never been wealthy. My family. . .we didn't starve, but we were careful with our money."

"I see and you want to go ahead with setting up a trust fund?"

"Yes, uh. . .things happen and you never know. I want to use whatever money I am given to make sure that the boys are financially secured."

"Yes, I understand." Alexandria Talon replied sifting through her papers. She took out a datapad from her opened briefcase and typed on it for a moment. "Here is the amount you inherited when it was proven that you are indeed a member of the royal family. It's the funds you father would have had if he had stayed on as the prince and now it's yours."

She laid the datapad on the coffee table and slid to her. "Now this is just a rough estimate, it would take me a while to give you the exact total."

Rakka stared and stared at it. She blinked several times to make sure she was seeing clearly at the total. She counted the zeros and looked at the single number at the beginning. "Are. . .did you overestimate? I mean, you estimated to the highest, right?"

"I estimated to the lowest." Alexdria Talon replied.

"My God." Rakka whispered. "I had. . .My God. . . I thought it would just be in the thousands, or maybe, at the best, a few million, but. . .this _much!"_

"Yes. Hitomi was a very rich planet. Its silks are in VERY high demand throughout the universe and only the silkworms on that planet alone can produce it. Along with a few breeds of plants that offer high content needed in several medicines also gave them a hefty profit. The planet Hitomi was a very interesting planet. Low crime rate, resources were used wisely, and the population number is easily controlled. I suppose it is the sort of planet you can expect when women run the show."

Rakka found that she was panting as if she had run a great distance. "Umm. . .well. . . I don't. . .know how to use this MUCH money."

"You are a very rich woman, now, Mrs. Laotaner." Alexandria Talon said. "You can start using it for the basic needs. Shelter, food, clothes, and health, and then you can start paying for pleasures."

"How can the Royal Family be this rich?" Rakka asked. "I mean, from taxes? Or. . .?"

"Yes, partially from taxes, but most of the taxes go to the government buildings. Hospitals, schools, city halls, courthouses, and disaster relief when it's needed. No, the Laotaner Family gets its wealth from it's own production of silk. You family has over hundreds of silk production mills across the universe and it's continuing to expand, and also playing the stock market helps."

"I had no idea." Rakka whispered. "I. . .anyway, about the trust funds. . .about how much would be adequate?"

"Well, that is up to you." Talon replied. "How much do you want to consist of the trust funds?"  
"I. . .I don't know. . .I was hoping for twenty thousand, but. . ." Rakka swallowed and leaned back into the couch completely overwhelmed. "Can we make adjustments to it later?"

"Yes, at anytime." Talon said. "How about twenty million for each one for right now?"

"Yes, that would more than enough do for now."

* * *

Rakka laid on her back on the bed, her mind spinning. She had enough money to feed an entire continent for ten years. Hell, make it fifty years.

She never had so much money, never ever in her entire life. She didn't think anyone could have so much. Well, she would never have to worried about sending Roland to college nor Jack.

What would Alia say? She would insist Rakka donate millions to charities and Sarabi would. . .

Oh. . .she forgot. . .they were dead now.

She rolled onto her side. She had kicked off her shoes and removed the sash for comfort. She curled into a fetal position, her hands folded beneath her cheek. Does Riddick know how much money she has? Is that why he wanted to marry her? He's already has money himself, but does he have as much as she does?

Was all of that money really hers? Or was it the entire Royal Family's funds? No, it was totally hers; Talon said it was money she inherited from her father. Why in the world would her father want to runaway from this wealth?

Her mind raced back to her childhood. How she would want ridiculously expensive toys and clothes and her parents response was the classic, 'we can't afford it'. Yet, all along, her father was possibly one of the richest men in the universe and he had the gall to say to her that he couldn't afford shit.

Dammit. She sat up and rubbed her face. She hadn't even spent a cent of the damn money and she was already sounding like a spoiled rich bitch. She had seen for herself how wealth corrupts. Rolf, the CareTaker, Noa, Chillingsworth, Dr. Turner, and the Wilas were rich and they weren't exactly saints.

She needed to be careful and watch herself. Especially the boys. She loved them and she was happy to know that whatever they'll need in life, she may easily provide, but she didn't want them spoiled and become like. . .like that fucking Rolf kid.

She crossed her arms over her chest and realized something. She had several hours before she needed to get ready for the party tonight, Rera was taking care of Jack, and. . .she still hadn't finished what she had started in the bathtub.

She rolled onto her back and bent her knees, her arms outstretched to her sides. She closed her eyes and deeply inhaled and exhaled. She felt her body relaxed and she pushed the troubled thoughts she had moments ago away and concentrated.

She concentrated on Riddick inside her head. A quick suggestion past through her head of going to Riddick have him finish her off, but for right now, she wanted to be alone. She kept her eyes closed as she remembered Riddick's muscular upper body. She remembered the way it flexed and moved beneath bronzed skin as he fucked her.

She slowly grabbed the skirt and pulled it down her bent legs to her hips. She smoothed her hands up and down her thighs, from her knees to where it meets her pelvis. Her body began to show her arousal by her fluids slowly oozing from her.

What would Riddick do first? Strip her, of course, but this was going to be her fantasy. Her hands deftly unbutton the front of her dress and shoved it open. Her bra was luckily the kind that clipped in the front. She undid it and pushed the breast cups aside.

Her thumbs rolled over her nipples and for the thousandth time in her life, she wished she was one of those women that could easily kiss and lick her own nipples and breasts. She could if she lifted on her breast hard and craned her neck enough, but it hurt her neck to do so. Her nipples became like pebbly hard and she gave them a hard squeeze.

While one hand stroked her nipple, her other went down to her crotch. She rubbed herself through her panties. She remembered the way Riddick gave her oral sex on the way to Discu on the skiff, right before they had to go into cryo. Her fingers slipped into her panties to mimic the motions his tongue made. She touched her entrance for the wetness to rub onto her clit to get it wet. She stroked slowly up and down along the length of her slit. Her clitoris convulsed as her fingers past over it.

She twisted her breast hard, her thumb rubbing the hard nipple cruelly. She whispered for the lights to dimmed, but had to speak louder for the interfaces to hear her. She exhaled as she rubbed her clit in a fast circular motion.

The hand manhandling her breast went down to her crotch which she slipped two fingers inside. It took her a moment to finger her g-spot and rubbed it for a second. God, she wished she had a dildo or a vibrator.

A knock on the door nearly made her scream. Her fingers were snatched from her and she sat up, her heart pounding beneath her chest. "What is it?"

"You have a visitor, Highness." Rera said from the other side of the door apologetically.

Rakka panted for a second and then said, "Give me a minute."

She grumbled beneath her breath as she redid her bra and button up her front. She went to the bathroom to clean herself up, wash her flushed face, and straighten her skirt. She wondered who it could be. Riddick? She felt her face flushed. She wondered what he would think if he knew what she had been doing just now.

Wait, if it was Riddick or her grandmother, then Rera would have said so. Not just say that someone wanted to see her. She slipped into shoes incase it was someone new and headed for the living room. She froze at the doorway and stared, her blue-violet eyes wide and shocked.

There sitting in the same spot that Alexandria Talon herself had just sat less than an hour ago, wearing gray robes, and her gray hair up into a pile of curls was Noa Liika.

She turned her head looked at her with beautiful gray eyes and smiled. She was as beautiful as the day Rakka last saw her. Her face was what women went into surgery to attain, her skin was clear, perfect, and very soft looking. She offered Rakka a small smile and said, "It's been a very long time, Princess."

"Why the hell are you here?" Rakka snapped.

"You're still angry with me." Noa Laotaner said sadly. "I understand why you're. . ."

"YOU UNDERSTAND?" Rakka screamed. "You understand NOTHING! You drugged me and TOUCHED me! Thank God, I can't believe I'm saying this, but if Toombs hadn't have came to kidnap me, there's no telling how far you would have went with me!"

"I know, I know, I have committed a grave sin in what I did to you." Noa nodded her beautiful head. "I came to give you my most sincerest apologies about what had happened."

"Okay, you apologized, now get out!" Rakka snapped.

"Aren't you curious as to what happened on Echo after you left?" Noa asked. "About what has happened to Io, her husband, and Sunna?"

Rakka wanted to shouted no and again tell her to get out. She crossed her arms over her chest and said steadily, "What happened?"

"Io's husband died in the struggle for the compound and not too long after that our long hated rival was found murdered in his office with a gunshot to the head. I was. . .severely wounded when that man Toombs came for you."

Rakka wanted to snarl 'good', but held herself back. She swallowed and listened to Noa's story.

"While I was in the hospital, Io was stationed as Head of the Liika Family on charges that I was. . .too unstable to lead in our Grandmother's place. Grandmother died shortly after the skirmished. I spent the next five years in a mental hospital for therapy. I underwent therapy sessions, drugs, and counseling groups until I was finally released. However, by then I was greatly estranged by my family. So I took my possessions and left the planet."

"How is. . . Sunna now?" Rakka had to asked.

"The skirmished scared her, but she's fine. She's a young woman now, but that is all I know." Noa replied. "Io. . .she and Sunna are going to attend the party tonight, so you'll see them."

Rakka wasn't sure whether she was happy or not about this. "The Queen said that any that was apart of the. . .thing that happened Echo was punished."

"Yes, for the next 100 years, the Liika Family to expected to give tribute to the Royal Family yearly of 50,000 UDs or face Family Disbandment."

Rakka shifted her feet and said, "That's. . .pretty steep. So you're family will be separated forcibly unless you pay that amount yearly?"

"That is correct, Princess." Noa said nodding. "But it means nothing to me since I am part of another family. I am married now."

Rakka arched her eyebrows in surprised. "Forgive me if I seem very surprised."

"No, no, I am still a lesbian." Noa replied.

Rakka shifted her feet very uncomfortable "Then why?"

"For convenience." Noa replied. She leaned back into the couch and said, "I was alone with no Family for support and my husband, Luthor Corovore, wanted a beautiful wife for sex and running his household. He also likes the fact that I am totally dependent on him for finances. So I'm like his little slave. He has a son, Cale, who's seventeen now."

"Well." Rakka said without knowing what to say. "Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all, just that. . .it's so wonderful to see you again." Noa replied. "I had feared that you had died or been sold."

"Yes, that would be horrible wouldn't it?" Rakka replied.

"I see I have worn out my welcome." Noa replied standing, her long robes whispering. "I will leave you now."

"Yes." Rakka replied.

"I see that you and. . .that man are still together and you two have had. . .children?"

"Yes, two."

Noa stared at her a minute and said, "Very nice." And then she left.


	61. Party

After Noa left, Rakka took another shower. She couldn't help, but remember how Noa had drugged her fifteen years ago and would have had her way with her if it wasn't for Toombs. She was irritated and angry about the whole situation. She didn't want to see Io, Sunna, or Noa tonight. Dammit, she wasn't going if they were going to be there. Echo was still a nightmare for her.

When she left the shower and she threw the towel mirror over the sinks. "Fuck them." She hissed at her reflection. She even slapped the glass with an open palm and winced when it stung her hand.

She sat on the toilet and cried. She didn't want to be here anymore. She wanted to go back to Yari, she wanted to go back to feeling secured and safe, and she refused to go back to how it was back fifteen years ago. Nearly getting killed, raped, always being afraid for her life, and dealing with Riddick.

It felt as if her time on Yari was just an eye of a huge storm and now she had to deal with the other half of the storm. She didn't think she could ever handle it again, she was too old and it was so apparent in her reflection. The small wrinkles around her eyes, and if she looked closely and leaned into the mirror, she could see a few gray hairs coming.

She leaned back and stepped away from the sink. Her body was thin and trimmed as if had been her whole life, in exception of the chubby stage she went through after giving birth to Roland

She was going to die this time around, she just knew it. Riddick, she needed Riddick to tell her exactly what he planned to do when she died. She needed to hear his plans right now.

She grabbed a robe and yanked it on while calling for Rera. The maid appeared dutifully at the bathroom door when she opened it. "Get Riddick. Tell him to come here."

"Yes, Madame." The maid said, her gold eyes were wide at Rakka's urgency.

Rakka went to her bedroom and sat at the dresser wrestling with her hair with a towel. It was maybe five to ten minutes later when she heard sounds of Rera struggling with Riddick in the next room.

"Wait, the Princess is in her sleeping chambers." Rera whined.

"She ain't got nothin' I ain't already seen."

Riddick stalked into the room, despite Rera pulling desperately at his arm. She saw Rakka sitting at the dresser and she began to panic. She sputtered and begged for her forgiveness, constantly bobbing her upper body in bows.

"Rera, Rera, please, it's okay, I don't mind, just go. . .go check on Jack for me." Rakka said waving her away.

Rera gave her one last hearty bow and just about fled. Riddick smirked at Rakka and said, "Cute."

She didn't know whether he was flirting with her, talking about Rera, or about Rera's attempts to serve her. "We have to talk."

"About what?"  
"I saw Noa."

"Been a while since that dyke been around." Riddick replied showing no surprise, or hiding it very well.

"She came asking for forgiveness and I don't know whether she was being serious or now." Rakka said placing the towel on her lap. "And she said that Io and Sunna was here."

"Really?" Riddick replied.

"I remember that. . .I remember seeing you and Io together. . ." Rakka said.

"Nothin' happened." Riddick replied.

Rakka didn't believe him and said, "That wasn't what I wanted to talk about. Riddick, I have to know exactly what you planned to do when I die."

"When you die? What? You plannin' on suicide?" Riddick stepped closer staring at her hard.

"No! Riddick, I can't help, but feel that I'm going to die soon." She said. "It's starting all over again. The running, fighting, lies, and fear is starting all up again and I don't think I'm going to make it again."

"Stop whinin'." Riddick said. He stepped forward and leaned forward. He balanced by placing a hand on the back of the chair and placing the other on the dresser's top. Rakka was pinioned between his arms.

"I am not whining." Rakka snapped. "I'm scared." She hugged herself and slouched in her chair. "Riddick, please, tell me what you intend to do if I die."

"Shit." He hissed into her ear. "This bullshit again? Bitch, you just don't let go."

"And should I? I'm just concerned." Rakka replied. "You don't want to answer because you have no idea of what you're going to do?"

There was a long silence and then, Riddick said, "I'm not sure right now. I need time to think and figure out how things are gonna turn out. You set up the trust fund, right?"

"Yes, twenty million each." Rakka replied. "The financier said that we could set up terms for it later when had a chance to think about it."

"We'll do that." Riddick said.

"But you will tell me what you plan to do later, right? When you do know?" Rakka asked.

"Yeah." Riddick said and he leaned forward. His mouth and nose touched her wet hair and she heard his inhale deeply. He was smelling her again and she closed her eyes.

"I already took a shower." She said.

A quick lash of wetness stroked her ear and a graveled voice said, "You've been 'gratifying' yourself."

Her eyes popped open and she felt her face flushed. "Who the hell told you that?"

"I can smell it from the bed." Another stroke of his tongue lashed along her ear.

Rakka inhaled and exhaled slowly. "What time is it?"

"4:00 this planet's time." He said into her other ear making her jump. He had somehow moved around her without her knowing.

She was expected at the party at 7:00 and she was planning on getting ready at around 6:00. She had almost two hours of free time. A large hand slipped into her robe and curved around her left breast. She sighed and leaned her head back against his shoulder.

"Tell me how." Riddick said into her ear

"How what?" She asked

"How ya masturbate." He said and she felt teeth tug at her earlobe. She couldn't speak, her lips parted, but nothing came to her mind to say. The teeth stopped tugging and she heard him say, "Better yet, show me."

She felt her face flush and she licked her lips. "We. . .we don't have any birth control. No pills or condoms."

"S' okay." Riddick replied against her ear. "I just won't cum in you."

She nodded and felt strong hands urging her to stand. When she was on her feet, the robe was pulled away from her shoulders and it fell in a pile around her feet. A callused hand trailed down her spine and over the roundness of her buttocks. His hand groped her and then a smartly slap made her yelp, and then unexpectantly a twitter of a giggle escaped her lips.

"Riddick, you're treating me like. . .I'm a twenty year old girl. I'm almost forty." She said after the giggle faded away. "And you, you look the same age as when I met you."

"Cryo." Riddick said. "I musta spent a third of my life being shipped around in cryo units."

"Yes, I. . .I heard of a study being done that has some sceientist believing that cryo could somehow, if you spend enough time in it, slow down the aging process." She felt her hand taken and she was led to the bed by the hand. She paused and said, "Go lock the door, please, I'll make myself comfortable."

Her hand was released and she crawled onto the bed while Riddick headed for the door and locked it. She settled against the cushions which Rera had arranged when she made the bed. Riddick went to her dresser grabbed the chair and placed at the foot of the bed and sat down. He leaned forward, elbows on his spread knees, eyes tentatively on her.

She felt like she was on stage and he was the audience. She leaned back against the cushions with her face flushed and no doubt pink. Riddick commanded to the lights to dim to 25 percent. Her eyes quickly adjusted and she could make Riddick shoving his goggles up his face. He wanting to see her better, made her feel even more flushed and flattered.

"Jes do what you would do alone. Don't put onna show me for me or anythin', act like I ain't here." Riddick said, shifting to the edge of the chair. "But I might make requests."

"Alright." She replied shifting to get comfortable.

She placed her hands over her breasts and then started to rub them very lightly. She couldn't take her eyes off Riddick, her breasts heaved beneath her hands. She swallowed and rolled her thumbs over the nipples.

There was something about having an audience that was so arousing, then she felt herself already starting to get wet. She gave her nipples a hard pinch and saw Riddick's lips moved just very slightly.

"Spread your legs." Riddick said. "I want to see you get wet.

His voice nearly startled her. She opened by shifting forward, bending her knees, and exposing herself. She swore that she could hear Riddick sigh lustfully. She gave her nipples a good hard squeeze, and then she ran her hands over her breasts, down her stomach, and between the apex of her thighs and back up to her breasts.

"Kin ya suck yer own nipples?" Riddick asked huskily.

Rakka swallowed and admitted, "Now really, but I can give them a few licks before it hurts my neck."

"Try it." Riddick said.

She grabbed her right breast in both hands and lifted it up. She craned her head downward as far as she could. She flicked her tongue over the hard nipple as her neck started to protest, and then she straightened. "Hurts my neck."

"S' okay. I saw what I wanted." Riddick replied. "Wanna see some hand action now."

She lowered a hand and gave her clitoris a few strokes before dipping her fingers into her center and wet her clit with her own lubricants. She rubbed it in a fast circular motion.

"Spread yer legs more." Riddick ordered. "Keep your eyes on me."

She spread her legs wider and she looked up at Riddick. He was still leaning forward in the same position, but there. . .was a hungry aura about him, almost like a dog straining against a leash.

She lightly ran her fingers up her whole slit and as it past over her clit, it instantly convulsed a few times. Riddick leaned further forward and licked his upper lip. "Damn, your clit loves that."

"Y. . yeah." She said softly. She did it a few times and ended it by giving her clit a small tease followed by up and down motions. She took her eyes off Riddick and leaned her head back. She lightly rolled her index finger over the head of the clit.

She felt the bed shift as weight gathered on the end. She opened her eyes to see Riddick moving as exotically as a dark panther on the prowl. Thick, rough fingers touched her opening and he slipped one in to the first knuckle. He drew his finger away and a glistening string of lubricant trailed from the tip of his index finger to her opening.

He brushed her hand away from her clit, took two fingers, and trailed up along her slit. A dull whimper hummed from her lips as her clit convulsed as his rough fingers glided over it. Then he started using his knuckles instead.

She rolled her fingers over her nipples using her thumbs more than her fingers. A friend in high school told her to try using just her thumbs, after she confided to her about her frustrations about pleasuring herself with her breasts.

_See, your thumbs have fewer nerves than your fingers, so there is less distractions or cross signals sent to your brain. _Rakka hadn't been sure whether she knew what she was talking about or not, but using her thumbs worked.

Her eyes opened when Riddick pushed a finger inside her. He leaned forward as his finger probed her. "Tell me when I hit it."

She knew what he was talking about. "Right there, there."

He prodded the area in a circular motion and Rakka felt her body tighten around him. She licked her lips, her chest was heaving and she couldn't stop the soft moans as he moved his fingers within her. His other hand cupped her right breast, his thumb rubbing the nipple hard.

It felt as if warm water was being poured into her body, filling her up and the bursting point was in her lower belly. She arched her arch slightly when Riddick twisted his hand so that his thumb could tease her clitoris while rubbing her g-spot.

"Riddick." She said inhaling and exhaling throw her mouth. "I want. . .want. . ."

"Shhh, yeah, honey, I know." Riddick replied.

She heard the jingle and zip of his fly and belt behind undone. He shifted and arranged her legs around him. His fingers left her to be replaced by his member pressing into her. She sighed low in her throat as he entered her slowly and easily into her well lubed vagina.

He leaned over her, supporting his weight on his arms on either side of her head on the pillows. She ran her hands up his arms, feeling the hard muscles and the smooth skin, with the exception of a raised swell of a scar. He was warm to the touch and she could feel the heat of his breath on her face.

He started with slow strokes, easing himself out and then steadily sliding back in. Rakka ran her hands up his arm to his shoulders to draw him downward onto her. She could see his heat on her breasts through his cotton shirt. She pressed her cheek against his bare skin and loved it. She flicked her tongue over his collarbone, her arms fitting snugly around his broad shoulders.

A low growl vibrated his frame as he thrust into her hard. Her body rocked as he began to his hard strokes. Rakka clung to as the shore of her being was washed with a tide of intense pleasure roaring over her. Her nails dug bleeding lines into his back as she climaxed and that was the edge he needed.

He pulled back, sitting up. His member slipped out of her in time for him to cum. The white, warm seed spurted and splattered across her stomach, chest, and a droplet hit her at the corner of her mouth. She panted, watching the big man leaning over her, watched his frame increase and decrease as he took panting breathes. She stuck out a tongue and swept the drop into her mouth.

He leaned forward, careful not to smear the cum onto his clothes and kissed her. She responded, smoothing her hands over his stubbly head and down his rough cheeks. When he broke away, she whispered huskily, "I'm going to take a shower. Do you want to join me?"

"Yeah." Riddick replied huskily.

She remembered the last time she had had sex in the shower with Riddick. Well, it wasn't actually sex, more like the beginning of it. It was long ago back on Echo, when she had started her sexual relationship with Riddick and had been uncomfortable with the way he liked having sex.

This time, she was more comfortable and use to Riddick's ways. After dimming the lights to a comfortable level, Riddick stripped and entered the shower after her. The shower was large with an oval shape with foam covering the floor to prevent slipping and gave a massaging feeling to the feet as she walked. The water sprayed from jets lining the walls and overhead. They were set to steady streamers for right now.

She took this time to rinse off the ejaculate off her body and Riddick was running a hand up and down her back. His hand curved over her buttocks and Rakka waited for him to give her a slap again, instead a finger prodded her anus.

"Hey." She said stepping forward away from the intruding finger. He put a hand on her shoulder as if to keep her from fleeing. "I'm not ready for that, Riddick."

"Ass is exit only, huh?" He said running a rough hand down her side.

"Yeah." Rakka said, then lick her lips and said, "For now, maybe. At least, not in the shower."

Riddick touched her wet hair and turned her head to face him. He shoved his tongue into her mouth and urged her to stand closer to him. She could feel his already head penis against her stomach. Her hands slid up his stomach, chest, over his shoulders, and around his neck. His hands slid down her back and cupped her buttocks. She was lifted bodily and lowered onto his erection. It hurt, her body was coming out of sex mode and the only reason Riddick was able to enter her smoothly was because she had had a chance to clean herself.

She was raised up off him and he urged her to wrap her legs around his waist, which she did, but as she did so, she noticed the bleeding lines on his back from where she had unknowingly.

"I'm sorry." She leaned away from him, holding onto his shoulders. His hands were cupping her back, so she didn't have to hold onto him herself. "I scratched you."

"S' nothin'." Riddick purred. He shifted her closer to him, pressing her breasts against his chest.

Her legs began to ache and she shifted uncomfortably. "Riddick, let me get down. I don't like this."

Riddick made an annoyed sound in his throat, but he set her on her feet. She leaned against him and kissed his ribs in an apology. "I feel better on my feet or laying down on something."

She smoothed her hand along his ribs, loving the hard muscle and wet skin. Then a knock on the door alerted her and Riddick.

"Madame, your dress has arrived." Rera said though the door. "The handmaids have come to help you get ready."

"Wait!" Rakka said opening the shower door and leaned her head out. "Wait, what time is it?"  
"It is 5:30, Highness."

Time flies when you're having fun. Rakka looked at Riddick and said, "I had no idea that it was so late."

Riddick shrugged and took a bottle of soap from a small shelf within the shower. Rakka watched him pour some into his hand and set it back onto the shelf. He lathered the soap onto his chest smearing the suds across his muscles.

"Rera, give me thirty minutes." Rakka called. She turned back to Riddick and said, "We can do a quickie in the bedroom if you. . ."

"But, Your Highness, there are women waiting to dress you, do your hair and makeup, and your nails. . ." Rera called. "They need to get started now if you are to be in time for your Introduction."

"Damn." Rakka whispered. She turned back to Riddick again and said, "I'm sorry, I gotta go get ready."

"Yeah." Riddick said lathering up his neck and chin.

Rakka stared at him and said, "You're acting like I'm walking right out on you. We already spent an hour and a half together and you knew about this party before tonight."

"Go get dressed." Riddick replied.

"Don't order me." Rakka snapped.

"Your Highness?" Rera called.

Rakka swore under her breath and called back, "I'm coming."  
She stepped out of the shower and spoke to Riddick, "What are you going to do?"

"What do you want me to do?" Riddick replied smoothing the suds down his belly.

Rakka would have loved to watch him bathe his sculpted body, but Rera gave an urgent call and she quickly said, "Whatever you may want to do, Riddick. Forgive me for wondering how you want to spend your night."

* * *

The dress looked like a cross between a Kimono and a medieval ball dress. The skirt was wide and frilly while the top was loose with long sleeves which hung past her hands. The dress was violet matching her eyes with jewelry with precious stones embedded in the gold. Her hair was piled on top of her head in styled curls and were sprayed with glitter. Beads and silken ribbons were braided into her hair which hung about her eyes like bangs. When all was done, her makeup, her dress, her hair, a silvery, diamond encrusted crown was settled and around the curls of her hair.

This was it; she was living the dream that at one time past through the minds of all girls. She became a princess complete with crown and dress.

She sat at the dresser and stared at herself in the mirror. The handmaids bowed themselves out of the room, telling her that she had ten minutes before she had to leave for the party. Her makeup was used to make her completion paler than usual with bright colors on her lips, eyes, and pink blush on her cheeks. Her blue-violet eyes were well outlined with eyeliner enhancing her eyes' shape.

Something white caught her eye. It was the letter which had been delivered to her by Rera earlier. She hadn't had a chance to read the letter. She took it up through the silken sleeve and took out the folded paper. It still amazed her that someone sent her a paper letter in ( as she saw when she unfolded ) ink, true handwritten pen.

The hand writing was in the most beautiful calligraphy she had ever seen and it spoke words that greatly flattered her. She grinned as her eyes read the beautiful words of love and devotion, but halted when she saw the name at the bottomed. CALE COROVORE

Wasn't that Noa's stepson? Wasn't he seventeen years old? Wasn't it considered illegal to. . .oh God, did Noa visit her in hopes of warming her up for Cale? Shit!

"Somethin' wrong?" Riddick just popped up out of nowhere fully clothed with a smell of soap about him in the mirror in front of her.

"Yes." She growled turning her head to look at him. "You've been in the bathroom the whole time?"

"Had to finish myself off." Riddick replied. He leaned over her and said, "Look nice."

Rakka felt her face flushed and said, "Thank you, but you're not going to believe this." She held up the letter and said, "Remember that Noa came by earlier? Well, she told that she's married now. . ."

"To another woman?" He asked.

"No, to a man, but it's not out of love. Anyway, she has a stepson named," She held up the letter tapping a finger at the name, "Cale Corovore. He's SEVENTEEN years old! I'm old enough to be his mother!"

"Maybe that Noa bitch screwed 'im up." Riddick suggested eyeing the letter.

"She claims that she spent five years in a mental hospital after the. . .thing that happened on Echo. She says she's been straightened out, but I still don't know whether to believe anything she says."

"So, do ya want seventeen year old dick?" Riddick asked.

"Riddick!" She hissed at him. "He is just THREE years older than Roland!" Then a wicked thought came to mind which she implemented without second thought. "Besides, you got plenty enough dick for me."

"Whoa." Riddick said clearly impressed.

"Madame." Rera said yet again interrupting them. "It's time."

Rakka turned her head back to Riddick and said, "Will you wait here for me? I'm just going to stay there for as long as needed to be polite, hopefully just an hour, maybe more, I don't know. But. . .I'd like to come back to you."

"Yeah, I'll be here, but I get to keep Jack with me here." He said.

"Sure, he's in the nursery, I think asleep."

* * *

The Ball Room of the mansion was grandstanding and filled with the Lord and Ladies of what remained of the Hitomian court. The ladies wore dresses similar to Rakka's, but nowhere as grandeur. The men wore what reminded Rakka of tuxedos. They wore long sleeved black overcoats with colorful silken robes beneath them.

Rakka was escorted down a marbled set of stairs by Hera while she was introduced by an announcer speaking through speakers in the ceiling. The Ball Room was designed on a large circle with large windows, much like the ones at Helmer's party. Rakka shook as the shivers trailed down her back. On one side of the room was a buffet full of expensive foods with booths and dining tables with large cushions as seats, then other side was the dance floor and at the head was two thrones, one which the Old Queen was sitting on.

Rakka was led down to the floor amongst the applause of the Court and she was guided to the empty throne. She took her seat and music began to play and the people returned to their own devices.

The Old Queen was dressed in her usual attire of a white lacy robe and she wore a crown of silver like Rakka's, except it was larger and more grandeur with red and blue precious stones embedded in it.

"You look well." The Old Queen said. "He make you cum?"

Rakka gasped and stared at the Old Queen and realized that her reaction gave her away. "How did you know Riddick and I were together?"

The Old Queen smiled warmly and said, "One thing you must know about the Royal and Rich life is that maids LOVE to gossip. Five minutes after that man entered your bedroom, everyone within the mansion knew he was there and there are rumors circulating that he broke down your door and completely ravished you in your on bedroom in front of your maid, Rera."

Rakka stared at her great grandmother shocked. "You mean that everyone here knows about Riddick and my. . .relationship?"

"Why, yes, it's been the topic of conversation since you've been found."

"Do they know about Jack and Roland?"

"They know you already have two sons, but I quite doubt that they'll remember their names."

"Excuse, Your Higness." A male voice said startling her.

Rakka looked up to see an Hitomian man standing on the small stairway that led up to the thrones. He was young, in his mid-twenties, and his hair was gold and he had the bluest eyes that Rakka had ever seen. He was handsome wearing a red robe and his hair styled over to the side of his head. He was bowing at the waist with a hand held out toward her.

Rakka instantly leaned back away from him as he was threatening her with a knife. "Yes?"  
"May I have this dance?" He asked in a smooth voice.

At that moment, Rakka felt like panicking. She hadn't danced since she was a teenager and the elegant dances that the nobles were doing make her feel clumsy in comparison.

Thankfully, the Old Queen rescued her. "My grand daughter and I were taking time to reminisce about our family; perhaps later she could partake of a dance?"

The man looked at the Old Queen and relented. "If you wish, my Queen. Princess." He gave her a small bow and turned away.

Rakka watched him leave and leaned over the armrest of the throne and said, "Thank you, so much. I have no idea how to dance like that." She waved a hand at the dancing couples.

"Well, one day you may learn."

Thus the Ball went on. Within the next hour five more gentlemen invited her to dance, which she would politely refuse. She spent the time speaking with the Old Queen about Hitomian life and about Jack's welfare.

"I didn't know that we were so. . . rich." Rakka said in a low tone.

"Oh, well, you are a princess and part owner of the biggest provider of silk in the known universe. That's to be expected." The Old Queen shrugged her thin shoulders.

"I went ahead and set up a trust fund for the boys." Rakka said.

"That's wise, very wise." The Old Queen said nodding her head. "And I would set it up outside the Hitomian laws or judicial system just to be safe incase you marry a bastard of a husband."

Rakka scanned the crowd and swallowed a forming lump in her throat. "I. . .I don't want to. . . "

"Talk about it?" The Old Queen cocked a white eyebrow and said, "Listen, girl, now is the time for you to start thinking seriously about it. There are at least twenty five men in this room that is planning on proposing to you. . ."

"I already got a proposal." Rakka replied softly.

The Old Queen stared at her and said, "Who? I heard that only Riddick. . . ohhhhhh. My, he is possessive, isn't he?"

Rakka folded her hands on her lap and said, "He took me completely by surprise. Especially his proposal. 'Hey, let's go piss off some rich and royal fucks and get married.'"

The Old Queen threw back her head and laughed loud enough to attract the attention of the partiers who stopped their activities to stare at their queen. The Old Queen ignored them and continued to speak with Rakka, "And what did you say?"

"I really couldn't say anything." Rakka replied leaning back into her throne. "I mean, we have had so many fights and. . .I just never imagined us getting married."

"What did you imagine?" The Old Queen asked.

"I. . .I guess the best thing I could have hoped for was that he would live nearby. Like we're divorce, but the kids live with me and he visits to be with the kids. . ."

"And sleep with you." The Old Queen finished.

Rakka nodded, "Yes. I can't imagine us actually living together in the same house without tearing each other apart."

"There'll have to be changes between you two if you go through with it." The Old Queen said. "What changes do you think there should be?"

"Well, for one he would have to be nicer to me and be more. . .less obnoxious."

"What about you?" The Old Queen asked, "What changes do you think you'll have to make on yourself?"

Rakka sat thrown for a moment and said, "I. . .I don't know, I suppose be more tolerant of him. But he doesn't make it easy to ignore the things he does and says. Especially when he keeps things from me."

"Whatever he has done in the past, he has done to protect you and those kids." The Old Queen reminded her. "I'd trust him to be a good protector of the family."  
"Yes, I know he loves Jack, but he and Roland have a long road to go. . .that is if Roland is ever returned to me." Rakka said feeling her spirit being put down at the memory of Yari.

"Come, let's go select our meals and dine." The Old Queen said making a signal to an attendant standing nearby. The attendant stepped forward pushing the electronic wheelchair forward.

Rakka looked at the many people eating at the far side of the ball room and said, "I'm not very hungry."

"Come now, one day you are going to have to mingle with your own people." The Old Queen said patting her hand as the attendant helped her into her wheelchair. "What will they think if their own princess is afraid to be around them?"  
Rakka nodded her head nervously and stood. Her legs ached a little from sitting down for so long. Her great grandmother rolled her chair down a small ramp alongside the small stairway and Rakka followed her. The dancers stopped dancing and stood to the side to allow an easy path through them to the dining area. They bowed as they past and many even leaned forward to get a good look at Rakka's blue-violet eyes. She kept her head held high and looked straight forward.

A large scale table was set aside for the Royal Family. The table cloth was silk and hung down the floor from the round table. Two grand chairs were set aside for them side by side. Rakka took her seat, but the Old Queen remained in her wheelchair, refusing the attendant's attempt to help her into the second chair. They gave the attendant their orders and he left to fill them at the buffet table.

Rakka glanced around and noticed that all eyes were on them, but what caught her attention was the small group sitting not too far away from them. She recognized Io immediately and the young girl beside her had to be none other than Sunna. Io had lost weight and wore a trimming white robe while Sunna wore a very fashionable evening gown that looked out of place from the Hitomian robes and Kimono dresses.

Sunna had blue-violet eyes much like herself, thus she was considered a Blessed Child, especially among the Liika clan, her family. It made Rakka feel very old to remember Sunna as a spoiled three year and now to see her as a young lady.

And to her surprised they were sitting with none other than Noa. She was wearing her favored gray robe and her gray hair hung down her back and beside her was a boy about Sunna's age. He had dark hair and orange eyes and he wore an orange robe with yellow trimming to match his eyes. That could be Cale Corovore.

Rakka snatched her head to look away, but too late. Noa had caught her eyes and smiled warmly. It was the type of smile that made Rakka have no choice, but to return it.

She felt a nudge at her shoulder and she turned her head to see the Old Queen leaning toward her. "Go over there."

"Grandmother, no." She whispered from the corner of her mouth.

"You were staring." The Old Queen said firmly as if she was speaking to a child. "In Hitomian upper society, when you stare, you are making a request to join them, that gray woman there answered it by giving you a smile. Inviting you over. If you don't go over there, then you are sending unnecessary mix signals and it is rude. As rude as if you begged for a piece of cake, got it, and not even bother to eat it. As a princess, it is part of your duty to be an example of courtesy and manners. Go over there and say hello and then come back."

Rakka couldn't protest after that stern lecture. She said softly, "I'll be right back."

She stood from her chair, and unwillingly headed over to Io and Noa's table. Noa grinned very warmly as she neared the table and said, "Why, Princess, how kind of you to join us."

"Yes, thank you." Was all Rakka could respond with.

Io stared at her with a sort of reverence, however while her daughter seemed to give her a menacing glare. And Cale, God, Cale stared at her and studied her body as if wondering what she looked like without the dress.

Before Rakka could say she was just there to say hello, Noa had motioned to a chair and said, "Please, sit with us for a while and let's catch up."

Rakka wanted to scream no, but she kept the smile plastered to her face and sat down in the offered chair. "I. . .I heard what Noa had been doing since. . .our time on Echo." What the hell do you say to people who wanted to drug you into being rape and steal your baby?

"Nothing much on our end, Princess." Io said sweetly. "I became the Family Head of the Liika compound after. . .my sister here was sent to get help."

"And how is that been doing?" Rakka asked.

"Fine, until you wanted us to pay you off so you won't break us apart!" Sunna snapped.

"SUNNA!" Her mother and aunt snapped in unison.

Io looked at Rakka with severe apologies and said, "Sunna can be a bit outspoken and she's been angry since our Family's punishment was decided. We had to change our lifestyle a bit in order to make the tribute."

"We had to move out of house to live in a shack!" Sunna growled.

This time she got a grab on the wrist with Io's nails digging into her skin. "Sunna, you are going to be severely punished for this."

"I'm sorry that the tribute is hurting you." Rakka said despite the fact that she was glad.

"It's not so bad since Noa has been giving us a helping hand." Io replied.

Yet another lie in Noa's elaborate web of deceit. Rakka looked up at Noa and she stared back giving her a grin which showed off her perfect white teeth.

"Rakka, did you get my letter?" Cale piped.

Rakka felt herself bristle at the way he just so personally said her name as if they were old friends. "Yes, I did and the necklace you sent was very nice. . ."

"My stepmother Noa picked it out." Cale replied. He leaned forward putting his elbows on the table. "But I would have rather send you a nightie."

Oh, dear God, this little prick thinks he some sort of Casanova. "How old are you Cale?"

"Seventeen, but I turn eighteen next month."

This shit's family was planning on a one month long engagement till he was legal before the wedding. Well, Rakka supposed this was long enough and she stood. "I must go back to my grandmother. We have a lot to catch up on."  
"Oh, yes, we understand. It's not very often to you meet a long lost relative." Io said glancing at her sister, Noa.

Rakka didn't even want to look at Noa's lying face. She said goodbye and wanted to run back to her table. She took her seat in front of the served food. "God, that was horrible."

"That bad?" The Old Queen asked taking a sip of her wine.

"Very bad." Rakka replied. "That. . .Noa bitch has been lying to me."

"Really?" The Old Queen's eyebrows arched in interest. "Tell me."  
Rakka told her about Noa's earlier visit to her chambers and her story since the events on Echo. The Old Queen listened carefully and clucked her tongue. "That girl is quite a character. She has a complex of the mind where she compulsively lies."

"Do you know her real background? Since Echo?"

"True that she did spend time in a hospital, but it was five months, not five years, but she went back to living on the Liika estate with her sister who was made Family Head."

"That bitch." Rakka muttered. "And did she get married?"

"Yes. She left planet for a convention meeting about the trading of silk. There she met Luthor Corovore and a week later they were wedded. Their servants say that she runs the Corovore family and their finances through her husband. There is even a rumor that she and that boy there had slept together a few times."

"Damn." Rakka said taking a very quick glance over at Cale. "No wonder that boy is so confident. Probably thinks he some sort of older women magnet or some shit."

"You are really angry?" The Old Queen commented.

"Yes." Rakka replied. "And I also feel embarrassed and humiliated. That woman lied to me in my face and she has the gall to smile at me as if we're old childhood friends."

"Or lovers." The Old Queen said.

Rakka stared at her great grandmother and said, "You know about that?"

The old woman's pale eyes widen. "So it's true? That woman has a fondness for you?"

"No, that woman tried to drug me and. . .have her way with me." Rakka hissed.

"And she spent only five months in a hospital?" The Old Queen pondered. "Do you want me to. . ."

"To what? Have her arrested or sent to a mental hospital where she needs to be?" Rakka asked. "No, just as long as she stays away from me and leaves me alone, then I'll be fine, but I am NOT going to marry a kid."

"So we'll cut Corovore from the list and put Riddick's there instead."

"I don't know about Riddick and me. . ."

"He's your best bet." The Old Queen said. "He cares for your children. The men here would ship them off to the most far off boarding school or a military academy to make room for their own. NOBODY in this courtroom gives a damn about Jack or Roland, or about you. All they want is your title as princess. Now think about someone who doesn't give a flying fuck about your title and is willing to die for your kids."

Rakka swallowed and said, "I know he cares about the children and I love him for that, but what about me? I don't want to sound selfish, but I want to be loved too. I feel that Riddick sees me as a possession that he doesn't want taken away from him. . .yet."

"You feel that one day he is going to leave one day?" The Old Queen asked. "Leave and never come back?"

"I don't know, I just don't know." Rakka replied. She finally picked up her fork and prodded at her food. "Nothing. . .ever goes as planned when he's around. I never know what's going to happen next. For all I know, I may not be here tomorrow, but on some planet running away from wild animals."  
"Does he tell you what he intends to do?" Her grandmother took a bite from a small piece of bread.

"Sometimes. In Discu, he told me he intended to leave after we got Jack back, but before he proposed he said that he was going to be around for a while. Yet. . ." Rakka toyed with her fork and then said, "He said that if we married, we could leave a window open for a clean divorce later, so I guess he ultimately plans on leaving one day. Just not sure when."

"What do you want him to do?" The Old Queen asked peering at her great granddaughter.

"I. . .I want him to get Roland back and then. . .Jack loves him and Roland. . .Roland wasn't very happy about him when he found out that he was his true father." Rakka touched her forehead and said, "I think I'm going to get a headache. Can I use this as an excuse to cut my stay here short?"

"Oh, yes, that is always a good excuse to use to get away." The Old Queen replied.

Rakka pushed herself away from the table and stood. Eyes followed her as she left the ballroom and she felt them on her as she headed back for her rooms.

* * *

Riddick was stretched out the couch watching the vid. He looked up as she entered living room. She removed her crown, stirring her nest of curls atop her head and said, "I am not going to go to another ball again."

"That bad?" He asked.

"Very bad and you won't believe what I found out." She told him about the truth of Noa's lies being revealed.

"I didn't believe the first lies." Riddick replied, turning off the vid.

Rakka placed herself in the armchair near him and said, "What bothers me most is that she told me lies that could be easily disproved. It was as if she believed that I was too stupid not to figure out the truth." She leaned against her chair and stared at him, "I think she was painting herself up as a saint for me or some stupid shit like. How's Jack?"

"Fine." Riddick replied still looking at her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked staring back at him.

"Were there any fucks there that caught your eye?"

"No!" She snapped. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know, why wouldn't I think that?"

She leaned her head back and sighed and said, "Riddick, you're the only one for me."

It was a drop in a large bucket of nothing and everything. A chime sounded in a room of silence sending the chill the reverberated against their skin.

There was a long stifling silence. Rakka lifted her head forward and swallowed. Riddick remained frozen in his spot watching her. She leaned forward and started speaking from her heart.

"Riddick, I love you, not just love, but I think I may have been in love with you for a long time. I've been afraid to show my feelings because I didn't want to get hurt or scare you away. I know you're not emotional like most people and you are a very private person, so I have no idea how you feel about, but I do know you care about Jack and possibly Roland. That counts a lot in my book and I know you are more fit to be my husband and the boys' father than all those men in that party room. I know I shouldn't expect to have the 'normal' family. I don't see us having a little house with a picket fence with the kids playing in the yard, I know not to expect that from you or from my newly discovered background. I see a very bumpy road ahead for us and I rather not go it alone, but with you right there beside me as you always have been."

Rakka swallowed and gave him an answer. "Yes. I want to marry you. No matter what it may bring or entail, I am willing to become the wife of the infamous Richard B. Riddick."


	62. Consequence

"Well, what did she think?" Luthur Corovore asked his wife Noa who was sitting at the vanity brushing out her beautiful gray hair. He was laying in bed typing at his datapad checking out stocks and bonds.

"She was enraged, Luthur. How the hell do you expect someone like her to react when presented with a boy to wed? She was as disgusted as I was on our honeymoon." She snapped bitterly.

"But it's possible." Luthur replied steely. "He's a young handsome man who'll be legal next month. She's an old woman who's time is almost. . ."

"Don't. You. EVER. Speak. Of. Her. Like. That. Again." Noa bit out each word in a tone full of menace and venom.

"My apologies." Luthur said quickly knowing how quickly his beautiful trophy wife could turn to violence. "But if Cale could become her husband, then. . ."

"It'll never happen." Noa clipped at him. "I told you. She has eyes only for that barbaric savage that isn't fit to lick to eat the dirt she treads upon." Noa set her brush aside and continued, "Not even a Rygenoll's human slave would want that bastard brat of a son of yours."

"I won't speak ill of your fascination if you don't speak ill of my son." Luthur said in a stiff tone.

Noa ignored him and stood from the vanity. "I'm going to my bedroom now."

"Go then." Luthur replied.

Noa left her husband's bedchambers to go to her personal one. She only went into Luthur's to get up appearances that they were behaving as husband and wife should. She never slept with Luthur, at least not indirectly. There were a few times she had to let him watch her activities just to pacify him.

Her chambers were smaller compared to his, but it was well. She auto locked the door behind her and headed for her bedroom. There waiting on her bed was young girl that she picked up in a landing port during a business trip with Luthur. The girl was had turned twenty recently, but it was fine. She had been a poor beggar in the city's slums, that is before Noa found her.

She wasn't Hitomian, but she had violet human eyes and copper blonde hair. It had been cut short to keep away the filth, but under Noa's care it was allowed to grow long down her back.

"How was the party?" The girl asked sitting up. She was wearing a long white thin night gown which hung off her shoulder loosely.

"Terrible, Anna. Strip." Noa replied shrugging off her house robe. She was wearing a black garter belt with a corset. She was also wearing high heeled shoes which left small imprints on the carpet as she walked to the bed.

Anna obediently lifted off her night gown and pulled it over her head. She dropped it to the floor and began to wiggle out of her panties.

"I need to let off some steam. Roll over onto your belly." Noa said walking over to a wardrobe of which she held the only key.

Anna rolled to lie on her stomach, her arms outstretched before her. Noa unlocked the wardrobe and opened it. Inside was a collection of whips, leather straps, and sex toys. She selected a small handheld whip with soft leather straps. She held it with one hand and fingered the loose straps.

She put one knee onto the bedside and smooth a hand over Anna's firm ass. "God, such a pretty ass, Rakka."

Anna didn't respond nor did she react to the incorrect name for her. It was a name Noa gave her whenever they played, it wasn't until she heard of the Hitomian Princess being found and seeing her picture in the news did she realize the true owner of the name. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Do you let that bastard touch you like this?" Noa asked trailing a finger between her buttocks. She prodded her anus with a finger tip which it reflexively tightened away. Noa flicked the whip letting it swat Anna's left cheek. It didn't hurt, but it was enough to make Anna tighten her ass.

"You've been a bad girl, Rakka, Mommy is going to have to punish you."

* * *

"By the Government of Hitomi and by the wishes of the Sight, I hereby pronounce you, man and wife."

There, that was it, it was done. She and Riddick were married. He was now her husband and she was now his wife.

After she had giving Riddick her answer, he had requested they do it immediately before she changed her mind. Rakka felt the same way.

She had sent Rera to tell get her grandmother from the party. She didn't feel that it was safe to send a message to her. About fifteen minutes later, the Old Queen came cursing under her breath about youngsters ruining her meal.

However, when she found out what she was needed for she sent for a worthy priest to marry them. To their surprised, the priest was the one cigar munching one from Echo, the ex-bartender.

"Now ya may kiss or slap the bride, I don't give a shit."

They were married in her living room, not in a church. She wore her party dress while Riddick wore his favored black clothes. The Old Queen stood witness while they said their vows.

Rakka turned to Riddick and he turned to her. He touched both sides of her face and bent down. His full lips pressed against hers and she thought, _this is the first time I'll kiss him as his wife. . .his first wife while he's my second husband. But this time, he's my true husband to me in my heart._

"You know, the shit is going to hit the fan when this comes out tomorrow." The Old Queen laughed. "There's going to be demands that this marriage be annulled, but I wouldn't worry about. We'll just tell them to go to hell."

Rakka nodded her head, but said, "Does this mean my name is now Rakka Riddick?"

"Actually, Rakka Laotaner Riddick in full." The Old Queen replied.

"I gotta go." The Priest said. "Got a skank waitin' in my room."

"Is the albino thing here?" Riddick asked.

"Yes, she's in the nearby temple about ten miles from here. She told me ta come here for a spell, said I needed to do somethin' important here, now I know." The Priest shrugged. "I'm gonna let 'er know what happened and see if I can go back."

"Thank you." Rakka said. "We're sorry we woke you up." Riddick made a sound in his throat stating clearly that he wasn't sorry.

"We're going to leave you alone. Jack is going to spend the night in my quarters to let you two. . . be alone." The Old Queen said smiling as she turned her wheelchair to the exit behind the Priest.

"Alright, thank you, I mean it, thank you." Rakka said following them to the doorway. For some unknown reason, she didn't want to be alone with Riddick. "Is it going to be that bad tomorrow when it breaks out?"

"Oh, yes, it's going to be very bad." The Old Queen replied as she wheeled through the door.

The doors slide shut behind them and Rakka turned to her husband. "Uhhhhhh. . .let's have some wine."

She walked over to a cabinet where the alcohol was kept and opened the doors. She removed two wine glasses from a rack and selected a bottle of red wine. She uncorked it and proceeded to fill the two glasses, but a large, rough hand touched her hand and made her set the bottle down.

Riddick stood close behind her, so close that she could feel him breathing behind her. His arms curled up and closed in around her and drew her against him. His face pressed into her hair and he inhaled deeply and slowly released it.

"Riddick, I'm scared." She whimpered leaning back into him. "I feel like we both stepped off a cliff and we're waiting for our parachutes to open or not. And we can't get back on the ground safely anymore."

Riddick kisses her ear and traced it with his tongue. "Jes think about now."

"I. . .oh God, Riddick, I am so scared." Her voice cracked.

"Much too late to get cold feet." He said rubbing her arms from behind.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be acting like this." She rubbed her face with her hands and laughed at herself.

Riddick smoothed a hand through her hair. He began to remove the pins and clips that held up her hair and it fell to her shoulders and across his chest. He set the pins and clips on the cabinet's counter and replaced his arm around her.

"You're being awfully nice to me." Rakka said sniffing despite her trying not to.

"It's a special occasion." Riddick replied.

"Please, don't stop holding me tonight."

"I don't plan to stop."

"It's sinking in, isn't it?" She asked. "Kind of like it is for me now." Riddick licked her ear again and his hands slid up her ribs and over her breasts. She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Are you. . . do you think you're going to regret this one day?"

"I won't know till that day comes." Riddick said softly against her hair.

"Do you think that day will come when we regret this?"

"Won't know till it happens." Riddick placed his hands on either side of her head. "I don't look that far into the future."

"But do you think about it sometimes?" She asked.

He turned her head to him and kissed her forward and said, "Just far enough to plan my next move."

"And what is the next move?" She asked.

"Fuck." He replied.

"That's what I thought." She said with a smile breaking through her fear.

"Lets go." Riddick said pulling her with him.

She was taken to the bedroom by the hand. It was strange feeling, a bit overwhelming. It was nothing compared to how she felt after her marriage to Terry. Then, she was relieved that she was no longer alone in raising Roland nor was she standing out anymore as a single mother on a lone colony.

"Riddick, does this change how you feel about me?" She asked.

"You're still the same to me. This time what we're doin' ain't considered 'sinful'."

* * *

She woke in the next morning, laying face on the bed with the sheets across her leg and scantily covering her bottom. Her dress and Riddick's clothes were on the floor in discard piles. She was fully relaxed and her body felt so loose. The only discomfort was the ticklish feeling at her vagina where semen and her fluids were wet and trickling from her body.

Her husband was lying on his back on the other side of the bed. His hands were laced behind his head and his goggles were on, hiding his eyes behind two black discs. His goggles were all he was wearing.

Rakka shifted over to stretch an arm across his stomach and lay her head on his chest. She knew he was awake by the way his body tensed against the weak hold of her arm.

His large hand closed around her wrist and he drew her on top of him. She straddled his waist and leaned forward, pressing her breasts to his hard chest. She pressed her mouth to his, her nose pressing against his. One thick arm went around her and the other hand pressed her head close to his.

Ten minutes later she was on her back and he was penetrating her. She kept her eyes open and stared up at Riddick's concentrated face. He slide easily in and out of her body and his heavy breaths blew on her face. Her head tilted back as soft moans left her throat.

She felt him release inside her, filling her with heat of which she soon followed. He stayed inside her and kissed her which she accepted gratefully. When he withdrew, her chin tremble and she said, "I never want to leave this bed."

Riddick nipped her jaw in response and rolled off her. His flaccid penis slipped out of her, smearing their mingled fluids on her inner thighs and staining the sheets. Rakka coddled up to his side and ran her fingers across his stomach. "I mean it, I want to stay in this bed with you forever."

"Let's see how long that lasts." Riddick replied as he reached over for a control to the large screen vid connected to the wall across from them. He turned on the vid with an arm possessively around her.

The vid was switched over to the news and on it was a Hitomian woman with tanned skin, black hair tied back into a bun, and had the darkest eyes Rakka had ever seen. She looked very insect like with the jet black eyes with white around them.

"The Old Queen announced today to the media that Hitomi's long lost Princess has as of last night eloped with someone who is yet to be named. The Court and Council are demanding answers from the Old Queen, who has refused these demands and has posted guards around the Royal Family's mansion to prevent reporters or any curious civilians from disturbing the newly wedded couple."

Rakka sat up holding the sheet to her breasts and stared at the vid. "Already? They already know?"

Then her ears caught a sound that she had been hearing, but chalked it up to snowy winds outside. With a forming lump in her throat she crawled out of bed dragging a sheet with her.

"I wouldn't look out the window if I was you." Riddick called.

She ignored him and wrapped the sheet around her as she tugged back a drawn curtain. Her eyes widen when she saw the crowd clinging to the tall iron fence that surrounded the estate. There was a thin layer of guards with shields and batons at ready to keep the crowd at a distance. Signs and lights dotted the crowds as they trekked the snow into cold mud.

She wondered why they would stand out there in the freezing cold of morning. Did they not have vids at their homes with which to watch the news?

Someone pointed and the crowd roared and surged the gate. Cameras flashed, blinding her and she was yanked away from the window. Riddick shoved the curtain back to cower the window.

"Now you've given the public no doubt about what we've been doing last night, sweetheart." Riddick said walking back to the bed of where she had dropped onto in shocked.

"Riddick, how long have they been out there?" She asked.

"About a couple hours. They started showin' up at 3:00." He said sitting beside her.

"Why?"

"You just saw the news. You know why?"

"I knew it was going to upset the court, but the public. . .the civilians. . ." She was thrown, too stunned to complete her sentence.

"Think about it. They wanna know who you married cuz, the fucker that marries you is gonna be king when you become queen." Riddick drew a ling down her back, from her neck down to the line between her buttocks where she was sitting on the bed. "They wanna know what kinda hell they're gonna get thrown into cuz you elopin' like a runaway prom queen."

"Hey, you were the one that wanted to get it done with as soon as possible." Rakka said through gritted teeth.

"Do ya really think a long engagement would have lasted between us two? The way we carry on?"

"I see." She said taking a deep breath. "I. . .I'm just shocked, you know."

"Scared of how they'll react when they find out that you married me and not some top shit in the Court?"

"Yes." She lay back on the bed and curled onto her side with the sheet loosely around herself. "I'm also afraid that I'll weak out and annul this marriage when they demand it."

Riddick settled down beside her, gently nuzzling her neck. It began to relax her as his hand came around and began to toy with her breasts. Rakka rolled onto her stomach and Riddick straddle her back before he shifted backward till he was lying flat on top of her.

She moaned as he tugged on her ear with his teeth and lips, but then the com on the bedside started beeping. She had a bit of a struggle with him as she crawled to the com. She laid on her side and picked up the com while Riddick contented with sucking and nipple at her ribcage and hip.

"Stop it." She hissed under her breath as she held the com to her ear. "Hello?"

There was a breathless high voice on the other end. "Rakka Laotaner? The Rakka Latoner? The Princess?"

"Uhhh. . .yes, that's me."

"Okay, great. Don't hang up!"

Riddick looked up at the com in Rakka's hand. He had a firm look on his face as if he didn't like who Rakka was talking to on the com. Rakka shifted so she was sitting up with her legs curled beneath her.

"My name is Fara Canson." The woman on the com said. "I'm a reporter for the Seeing Eye newspaper and I was hoping for an interview."

"An interview?" Rakka repeated astounded.

"Rakka, hang up." Riddick said sitting up.

"Wait, who was that? Was that the man you married last night?" The woman said excitedly.

"I have to go." Rakka said.

"No! No! Wait, just a few questions, it won't take long at all, I swear." The woman begged over the phone. "My editor is going to want to marry me if I get him this interview."

"I. . . no. . ." Rakka stammered frozen in place as if a large truck was going to hit her.

"Please, my first question is what the name of the man you married last night?"

Riddick took the com from her hand and slapped it down in the port, hanging up. "I told ya to hang up."

"I'm sorry." Rakka said. She had never hung up on anyone in her life, she was ingrained with phone etiquette taught by her mother.

The com started beeping again startling her. Riddick reached across her and picked it up. Rakka heard more pleading from the woman over the phone before he smartly placed it back in the port, then he took the com off the port and laid it on the bedstead from which a dull tone emitted.

"Better leave it alone." Riddick said pushing himself back beside her. "I think a lotta people are gonna try to talk to you today."

"More than enough reason to stay in bed." She murmured laying her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah."

* * *

It was around noon when Rakka felt hungry enough to leave the bedroom. She wore a light blue satin robe which hung suggestively on her body. Her hair was damp from a quick shower and it hung in strings about her. She called up for some fruit and juice which it was promptly brought to her by Rera. She bowed herself out of the room as she left.

Rakka sat on the couch and chewed on an apple and sipped some juice. Riddick came out about three minutes later wearing his black pants and boots with goggles. To Rakka's delight he wasn't wearing his shirt.

"Want an apple?" She asked offering one from the fruit bowl.

"Naw." Riddick replied as he made his way to the couch and settled beside her. A thick arm went around her and he yanked her close to him.

She giggled through the bite of apple in her mouth. He kissed her forehead, a large hand smoothing over her thighs.

"No, no, no." She giggled as she twisted away. "No, not while I'm eating. I mean it, I'm starving to death."

"Honey." Riddick growled into her ear as he leaned over her. "You don't know the meanin' of starvation till you hafta fight three yetis over a damn rabbit."

"Let me guess, you won." She replied.

"Damn straight."

There was a beeping at the door signaling the override code on the lock. Rakka pulled away from Riddick as the door opened to emit the Old Queen and her wheelchair.

"Well, you two sure made a ruckus last night." She said clucking her tongue at them. "Hera has been running around like someone shoved a hot poker up her ass keeping reporters and sightseers from storming in here to get a look at my new great grandson-in-law."  
Riddick replied with a disgruntled sound in his throat and took his arm away from her. Rakka uncomfortably shifted away from him and set her apple on the coffee table.

"Now you're acting like a couple of teenagers caught making out." The Old Queen scoffed under her breath.

Rakka quickly tried to change the subject. "I saw the crowd outside the window."

"Oh yes, they have been annoying." The Old Queen moaned. "But you'll get use to it. Every time the Royal Family does something considered of importance to the public they gather like that."

"We're also on the news and there was a reporter. A Fara Conson?" Rakka continued.

"Ohhhh, her. Yes, I know of her. I think she's banging one of Hera's top men because for some reason she's always able to contact one of the Royal Family even through our most secured com lines. You better get use to her too."

"How is it going with the court? Are they demanding to annul the marriage?" Rakka asked.

"Not yet. Right now they're demanding to know who you married, but give them time to count heads and they realized that you didn't marry someone of the court, so that just leaves the man who fathered your children."

"So when does she need to make an appearance?" Riddick asked staring hard at the Old Queen.

"Soon, but I'm stalling for you as much as I can." She replied sighing.

"Wait, I have to make an appearance for what?" Rakka said startled.

"Well, my dear, do you really think that you can go and do something as outrageous by eloping without having to explain your actions to the Hitomian race. This is the biggest thing since it was discovered that my great, great grandmother was having an affair with her father-in-law after her child was born."

"Oh God, I don't know if I can do that." Rakka said feeling the pressure. "Can't you. . ."

"I'm not the one that eloped with a convict, Rakka. You are. You are the one they want to hear from." The Old Queen said sternly. "They've been waiting to hear from you since you've been found."

"I can't do public speaking." Rakka whispered staring at her great grandmother, her face going pale. "I choke when I did a presentation in high school in front of twenty teenagers. I can't tell an entire nation why I married Riddick on live feedback!"  
"Listen to me. Try to understand your role in this. If you let something as small as stage fright keep you from being princess to the people, then you are giving the Court more ammo to throw at you. Believe me, Rakka, there are those who are willing to try to have you removed from the title princess and put up a new heir to take over. Our Royal Family will be diminished after I die."

"Grandmother, I don't want the royal family to end, but I don't think I CAN be princess." Rakka leaned forward, elbows and knees, pressing her face into her hands. "I never finished college, Grandmother. I spent the last ten years as a housewife and I worked in a daycare on and off. I can't run a county. I can't have over thousands of people's lives depending on the decisions I will have to make."  
"I know, I know, it is a lot of pressure to have on one sole person, but you're not alone. You'll have advisors, treasurers, Hera, and me to help you." The Old Queen said soothingly. "We'll arrange the conference soon so you can get it over with."

"What do I say?" Rakka was beginning to panic. "They are going to know how my marrying Riddick has to do with their government. What do I say to them? That I chose to marry him for my children's sake? Which is part true I'm sure, but. . ."  
"The important thing is that you two have a third child together." The Old Queen said patting Rakka's shaking hand. "Remember that prophecy you two keep denying. If the Court isn't religious, the public most certainly is. When you tell them that he is a Furyan, they are going to be throwing flowers and petals, not fruit and garbage, at you. In fact, it would be in your favor. If the public loves the idea of your marriage to him, then the Court isn't going to be able to say anything too nasty if they don't want to be labeled blasphemers to the people and drop many degrees in popularity."

"I. . .we can't have a another child now." Rakka replied sniffing back tears. "We have to get Roland back first."

"I'm afraid I may have some more bad news. The Courts found out that Riddick is the Lord Marshal of the Necromongers." The Old Queen replied looking suddenly very tired.

Rakka instantly put a hand on Riddick's forearm and said, "They're. . .not going to arrest him?"  
"No, no, no. Some did call for it, but I put a stop to it." The Old Queen sighed. "The Court wants to keep Riddick here and not let him leave, ever."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Rakka leaned forward and Riddick leaned backwards into the cushions as if none of this surprises him at all.

"Since he's been away from the Necromongers, they haven't attacked any planets and have kept to themselves." The Old Queen explained.

"But they haven't attacked ANY planets while he's been their leader." Rakka argued.

"Except for the five planet slams." Riddick interjected.

"So? It's not like you decimated habited planets and killed hundreds of people." Rakka replied. "Why keep him away from the Necromongers?"

"Because without their Lord Marshal they are lost and can do nothing except find him and have him replaced. If they can't attain Riddick, then. . ."

"I know how they get new leaders, but dammit, they may have Roland. Only Riddick may be able to find them and free him."

"Has the thought that maybe Roland could have died on Yari occurred to you?" The Old Queen ventured.

"Yes, only once, before Riddick told me that he may still be alive. You tell them that if they want us to have another child, then they better find someway for us to get Roland back!"

"The Court is adamant in their decision. And for once, I can see their side of it."

Rakka stood shocked at her great grandmother. "I can't believe you!"

"Look at it this way. I hate to say it, but to loose one young boy to save millions, possibly billions of lives, is a better deal."

"Fuck that!" Rakka snapped in a high shrill. "This is Roland! My son and your grandson! We are not going to leave him to die with a race of murderers who go around killing planets!"  
"Rakka, siddown." Riddick said tugging on the skirt of her robe. "Siddown before you have a stroke."

Rakka pulled away from his hand and turned on him. "How can you be so fucking calm? They don't care about Roland and he's your son too!"

"Rakka, calm the fuck down!" Riddick growled at her. "I am going to go. Bitch, you ferget how many top security slams I've cracked? Do you think they're gonna keep me here when I don't want to be here?"  
Rakka swallowed and realized she was trembling. She sank shakily onto the couch, feeling so very tired and exhausted after her rant. She brushed the hair from her face and rubbed her eyes. "Okay, so what is the important thing we need to do first?"

"We need to prepare a speech for you to make to the people for a press conference. That why you won't be hounded for information and so on. It would be best to do it as soon as possible to calm the people and not give the Court time to bitch about it."

"Okay, when would it be a good time?" Rakka asked.

"We could set things up within the hour. Be best for you to go ahead and prepare a speech with a writer and tell Rera to get some handmaids together to get you ready for live vid footage."

Rakka looked to Riddick for encouragement or an answer to an unasked question. He didn't give neither, he leaned forward and took up an orange and peeled it with a shiv that he somehow had hidden on his person.

* * *

Rakka worked on a speech with a female Hitomian writer and the Old Queen for half an hour to work on a speech that could be deemed appropriate excuse for marriage. But the writer told her that backbone of the speech would be to announce that her husband was a Furyan to the Hitomian public. When it was finished, she read it many times till it felt right inside her head.

Riddick hung around, fully clothed, watching the news on the vid. It kept going and going about Rakka's marriage, until she demanded he turned off the vid or change the channel. He switched it over to porn.

When the speech was done, Rakka went to get ready for her press conference.

However that was soon put to a halt.

Rakka was taking yet another shower, when she heard an argument out in the living room. She listened for a few minutes and recognized one voice as her great grandmother's and another she couldn't recognize. She stepped out of the shower dripping and threw on her robe. When she got the living room she saw her grandmother glaring fiercely at a large Hitomian man with dark hair and aqua eyes.

"Corovore, how DARE you come into MY granddaughter's private rooms and command US, the members of the ROYAL FAMILY!" Her grandmother nearly shouted at the top of her lungs.

"And as members of the Royal Family, you must consider the safety of your people!" Luthur Corovore replied. He had two party guards wearing different uniforms from Hera's guards standing behind him in stiff attention. "If the Princess goes on live vid footage and tell the universe that her new husband is a Furyan, that WILL ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF OUR ENEMIES! DO YOU WANT THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR HOME PLANET TO REPEAT ITSELF HERE ON REFUGE!"

From the severe look on the Old Queen's face, Rakka feared that the old woman would have a stroke. "_How DARE you raise your voice to the Royal Queen?"_ The Old Queen snarled in a tone that Rakka thought only Riddick knew how to use.

That made Luthur lower his attitude a few degrees and he bowed deep. "I beg of your forgiveness My Queen, but I am speaking on behalf of the Court and the Council. We have lost so many lives in the Destruction. Why tempt fate to strike us again and this time they might succeed. You know that this planet's population is too big for the ships we do have. Even if we had time for a full planet evacuation, we wouldn't be able to do it for that we don't have enough ships or resources."

"Don't tell me shit I already know." The Old Queen snapped. "I keep trying to put more money into acquiring more ships, but you and greedy sons of bitches want to keep spending the money on improving the silk production to line your damn pockets."

"Now that is very unfair, My Queen." Luthur replied keeping the edge from his voice by sheer will.

"It is the truth." The Old Queen replied fiercely. "You are scared to death of my granddaughter and her husband. They're marriage means changes are coming to the Hitomian race and you fear that it's going to take from you your fancy clothes, large mansions, jewelry from your spoiled wives and daughters, and your damnable titles. You are all afraid of the changes that will come."

"My Queen, change can be a very dangerous thing if it is not carefully controlled."

"You mean if it is not controlled in your standards."

Rakka felt it was time to cut in. The Old Queen looked mad enough to try to run over this man with her wheelchair. "Grandmother, does this change whether or not I need to make a speech to the public?"

Both answered at once.

"No."

"Yes."

"The People demand that she speaks to them about her marriage. Not even the Council can deny the People that much. They been waiting to hear from her since she's been found and more so since knowledge of the marriage was released."

"And she married this man?" Luthur asked in a steely tone motioning toward Riddick who had been reclined in an armchair watching them from behind black goggles the whole time. "The Lord Marshal?"

"Yes, I bared witness to it and do you dare to doubt the word of the Queen?"

"Of course not, My Queen." Luthur replied instantly. "But is this marriage wise?"

Rakka felt her blood chill and she heard herself speak out. "I am not annulling this marriage."

"My pardons, Your Highness." Luthur bowed in apology to her. "I am not requesting that this marriage be annulled at all."

"Not yet." The Old Queen growled.

Luthur chose to ignore her and continued. "The Court believes that you may have married in haste instead of taking time to see the pros and cons of marrying this man."

"Luthur, he is an exactly choice as a husband for the princess." The Old Queen cut in. "They've already had two sons together, they've had a long and enduring relationship for fifteen years, there is a prophecy that 80 percent of the people believe of her having our savior with a Furyan which he is. You are just pissed that she chose to marry Riddick instead of your son."

"I will admit that I am disappointed that I cannot count the Princess as my daughter-in-law, but I am not angered by it." Luthur lied with a blank face.

The Old Queen backed her wheelchair back a few feet so she could look Luthur more clearly in the face. "Have you not seen the crowds out on my family's grounds? Hera is having a very hard time keeping them back and the only way to sooth their curiosity if Rakka tells them whom she has married. I've seen riots and let me tell you that people can be killed or permanently wounded from them. You are putting my grandson's daughter in danger by preventing her from speaking to them."  
"And you allow her to put us all in danger if she does speak. The Necromongers will come and destroy us all."  
"Not if I ain't here." Riddick finally spoke, his gravel voice breaking through the tension as a sledgehammer on rock. Everyone looked in his direction and he was calmly sitting watching them fight.

"Riddick. . ." Rakka whispered.

"What do you mean?" The Old Queen asked rotating her chair to face him.

"I mean that I leave before Rakka gives her speech, but in the speech she tell 'em where I'll be. The Necromongers will go there instead of here." Riddick explained calmly.

Rakka felt her heart pound. She knew that Riddick was going to leave to find Roland, but so soon? She wanted him to stay with her longer. . .God, he was going to go save her son! And she wanted to keep him to herself? What kind of her mother was she?

"Very interesting." The Old Queen murmured. "You got a plan in that bald head of yours?"

"Yeah." Riddick replied, standing to his full height. "Right now you tell 'em that Rakka will give her speech tonight. Jes tell 'em that we're spending a private time together as newlyweds. I'm gonna head for UV.6 in the Helion System. It's an ice planet, so nothin' there except yetis and snow. I'll deal with whatever shit they got goin' and get Roland."

"And what do we tell the people about your absence?"

"Jes tell 'em the truth. That I'm the Lord Marshal and I'm goin' back to deal with them. Husband ain't gonna fuck with the wife's kingdom, so that'll keep 'em from panickin' about the Necromongers."

"Wait just a minute." Luthur snapped stepping forward into the planning. "The people knowing that you are from the Necromongers will bring even more panic. They will fear your people's conversion methods."

"The Necros ain't my people." Riddick said in a cool voice. "I just happen to rule them."  
"If Rakka puts it in her speech to the people, then that should keep them calm." The Old Queen said thoughtfully.

"But that is all well, however, you are forgetting one simple fact. If Riddick is killed, the Necros will have a new Lord Marshal who may continue the Conversion and destruction of planets. If Riddick remains here and does not go back, then the Necro race may possibly fall apart or die out."

"We don't know that for sure." The Old Queen snapped.

"They got darin' since I became Lord Marshal." Riddick replied nodding his head slightly. "Before me, they would never have thought about pullin' shit like they've been doin' with the old Lord Marshal. There's no tellin' if they might decide to go against their laws and go about convertin' again."

"Doesn't that go against their religion?" The Old Queen asked very interested.

"Hey, murder's sin and so is premarital sex, but Rakka and I still do it." Riddick shrugged.

"So you are openly admitting to loosing control of them?" Luthur turned on Riddick.

"Yeah." Riddick said greatly surprising Rakka. "Yeah, I did loose control of them."

* * *

An hour later, after arguing and debating, Riddick and the Old Queen won out and Luthur was sent from the rooms in defeat. The Old Queen spoke some more with Riddick and then soon left.

Rakka sat on the couch shaking. No, things were going too fast, much too fast. Tonight, she's schedule to appear on live vid feedback to the Hitomian race and Riddick wasn't going to be there for support.

Riddick remained the in the room with her. He sank down beside her and simply lifted her up and placed her on his lap facing him. She straddled his lap and hugged herself tightly to his chest.

"I don't want you to leave me." She whispered against his shoulder. "Not so soon after we got married."

Riddick rubbed her back and said, "Gotta go settle up with the Necros and get Roland back from 'em."

"Any idea of when you'll be back?"

"Dunno." Riddick replied drawing his fingers down her spine. "It'll take me about three months to get to UV.6 and then it's just whether the Necros are there waitin' for me or comin' for me."

"God, Riddick." She whispered feeling like crying. "No, I. . .I can't stand to be so long without you."

"Gonna miss my dick that much?" He asked slipping his hands beneath her robe.

"No!" Rakka groaned leaning away from him as hands pressed on her ribs. "I'm being serious. I want to go with you."

"Naw, ya needa stay here with Jack. Bond with him and yer gonna be safe here."

Rakka swallowed and said, "I. . .please, promise me that you will contact me as soon as you have taken care of everything. Especially to tell me how Roland is doing."

"I will." Riddick promised her. He drew her face close to his and kissed her long and deep. His tongue was warm and held a faint taste of oranges that he had earlier ate. He had refused the apple she had offered.

* * *

Carol didn't like her hair being restrained tightly in a well formed coiled on her head. The Necro dress she was wearing made her look like a gray stick and the metallic spine wasn't very comfortable. But it didn't matter to her. Samaiel liked it and it was good enough for her.

She made her way down the darken halls toward his quarters. She didn't feel like sleeping yet. Adrian was still working and Roland was still training in the combat zone. He has been doing that since they were brought on board the Basilica.

She saw a guard making his rounds toward her. The guards plated in their sinister looking armor. She felt like turning around and walking away, but that would make her look suspicious. She kept her eyes forward and walked past him. She felt his dark eyes on her as she past him, but he didn't stop her.

About a few minutes more walking, she was in front of Samaiel's quarters. She pressed the buzzer announcing her presence.

"Yes?" A male voice replied over the buzzer.

"It's me, Carol." She replied.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I couldn't sleep. I missed you."

"Come in."

The door slid open to show her an eighteen year old man with sandy blonde hair wearing a black tunic and dark pants. Carol smiled at him; she just enjoyed looking at him.

"Come in." He repeated stepping back to allow her entrance.

She entered with a small smile on her lips. "Did I wake you?"

"No, I meditating, but you interrupted nothing important." He said shutting and locking the door behind them. "Shall I get some refreshments?"

"No, I already ate. The food is so. . .bland." Carol said turning to watch him.

"Accepting the Way is to turn away from unnecessary fleshly desires."

Carol put her hands on her neck and said, "I'm sorry, if I won't accept the Mark. . .I. . .don't feel comfortable."

"No, no. I wasn't trying to pressure you. The Mark is something you must accept of you own free will. It cannot be forced upon you at all." He touched her shoulder assuringly.

"I know, but Roland. . ." Carol hugged herself and said, "He is so full of anger. I'm worried about him."

"He is an old friend, yes?"

"We played in the sandbox together." Carol remembered.

"You're just friends, right?" Samaiel asked.

"Yes, but for a while I had hope that. . .never mind. You're the one for me, sweetheart." She turned back to him and smiled up into his face. "Did you have childhood friends?"

"No. When I was a breeder, I went foster home to foster home. When I ten, the Necros came to the planet I was living with foster parents. We accepted the Mark and since then I've trained and joined the ranks of the Necromonger army. This is my true home."

"Samaiel." She stepped closer to him and looked up into his face as he looked down into hers. "That's your Necromonger name, right?"

"Yes." He touched her face lovingly.

"What was your name before you became a Necromonger?"

He looked into her blue eyes, which would have resembled his own if his wasn't washed out as if paint thinner was thrown on blue paint. "Sami. My was was Sami."

He kissed her long and deep.


	63. Sins

Riddick left after an hour of hard and enthusiastic goodbye sex. Before he left, he spoke to her of his wishes of what she should do while he was gone.

"Stay here. I trust the Queen to keep ya safe till I get back, but DON'T trust anyone else. Keep this with you where ever the hell you go." He put a formidable looking shiv on the coffee table.

She was sitting up on the couch with the robe hanging off her shoulders. She felt like a bit of rubber stretched nearly to the point of snapping apart, but was coming slowly back together. She nodded; somehow Riddick's words were getting through the euphoria of sex and into her mind.

"I'm gonna make an arrangement with Hera so that way, worse case scenario happens: the Necros come, yer gonna get a personal escape vessel. Hera is going to pick a top soldier to guard and pilot you and Jack far from here. Go to Haven, to that old college campus, remember, where we met. Months ago, I had Adrian set up an account within the bank in the City for you. There's enough UDs for you and Jack to live on for the rest of your lives. Do whatever you want, but keep Jack safe and keep the ship and the pilot. If the Necros start their crusade shit again, I want you to be able to get the hell off the planet as soon as possible so keep it close and go to the next planet."

Rakka swallowed and said, "Do you think we'll need it at all?"

"No, but I can concentrate on fighting more if I know that no matter what, you and Jack are safe."

"Riddick, please come back safe." She begged pulling on her robe.

He walked out the door.

* * *

That night, while Riddick was deep in space heading for UV.6, Rakka made her speech to the people of Hitomi.

She wore a blue-violet dress to bring out the color of her eyes and her hair was braided back from her face. She stood at a chestnut podium in front of what looked like hundreds of cameras, reporters, and members of the Court. She swallowed the huge lump in her throat as she was introduced by the Queen on a mike nearby.

Right now, she was being stared at by thousands of eager watchers. She could see them now, huddled around the vid set or looking up at her in restaurants and bars. She closed her eyes and remembered that Riddick was going out to risk his life for her son and it was her job to let any Necromongers watching or listening where he was going to be. The plan wouldn't work if she didn't do her part. And it was Riddick who was going to go toe to toe with these people.

The Old Queen finished with saying, "Please, direct your questions to me after my granddaughter speaks and save them till after she is through speaking."

Then it was time for her to speak.

"I know that the word of my marriage has come at great surprise to you all and I understand and I apologize for the length of time it has taken for me to tell you the name of the man I have married. So I will not make you wait any longer. I have married Richard B. Riddick. Some of you may have at one time heard his name. Yes, he is the same Riddick is known as a serial killer within the Helion and Green System and he was the most wanted man on several planets. I will not lie to you nor will I try to sweeten the truth.'

"I met Riddick fifteen years ago, long before I ever knew I was your Princess. We have had a very long and complicated relationship which resulted in us having two sons. Their names are Roland, fourteen years old, and Jack, 7 weeks. As Hitomian law dictates, they do not have a claim to the throne and nor do I intend to challenge this law. I and my children will accept this law gratefully.'

"The reason why I chose to marry Riddick, is not just because of our relationship nor is he the father of my children, but please, do keep in mind that they do play a factor, but he is a Furyan. He is a surviving Furyan from the Necromonger attack and he is also, the Lord Marshal, the leader of the Necromongers."

There were shouts and gasp as the reporters screamed questions and demands at her. She stopped talking while The Old Queen demanded silence and the crowd quieted. Rakka then continued her speech.

"Yes, he is Lord Marshal, but we are NOT under the government of the Necromongers, nor will we be ruled under them. My husband has HIS people and I have MINE. The Governments will remain two, completely separate and there will be NO conversions." She made sure to stress this out very completely as she was directed to by the writer to prevent a panic.

"I. . .Love Riddick, but I will not let my feelings for him or our relationship get in the way of being your Princess and one day, becoming your Queen." She swallowed and ended her speech. "And for some happy news, Riddick and I are planning on having a third child, of providing an heir to the Laotaner throne. Thank you, and good night."

She ended it a bit quicker than she knew the writer would have liked, but she felt like she was being suffocated. She turned away from the podium and made her way off the stage while reporters threw questions at her and camera flashed pictures of her.

* * *

Three weeks later, Riddick on the UV.6 planet. The ship he was given was better than he had expected. It was packed with food and warm clothing for him incase he needed to stay a few weeks on UV.6. They even provided him with weapons.

He couldn't stay in the cave he had inhabited during his last stay years ago, a family of yetis had moved in while he was away. He found a new one though, it was smaller than it would have liked it, but it kept the wind and snow away, and as a plus, it was too small for a yeti to try to attack him in his sleep.

He waited a week for them. During this week he spent in the cave watching a small satellite look for any ships landing. A few did, but it was mercs who happened to watch the Rakka's speech on the live vid footage a few weeks ago. They were quickly taken care of and they were stripped of any useful equipment they may have. Their corpses made a fine meal for the yeti family living in his old cave.

At the end of the week, they came. It was one small craft and contained ten soldiers. He killed three, just to make a point to them. He was still Lord Marshal and he could kill them all if he so choose.

Thus he went with them calmly.

It was two hours before the ship made it to the Basilica. He was escorted toward the throne room of the Lord Marshal. During the ride to the Basilica, he shucked off the furs and cloak in exchange for armor and leather pants with armored boots. He wore the similar clothing he wore when he became the Lord Marshal.

* * *

Riddick was taken to the throne room, his throne room, or that will change if Chronis had his way. He sat in a deep chair clicking the claws of his long rings on the arm of the chair. It was a habit he had picked up as his long years as advisor to the old Lord Marshal.

When Lord Marshal Zhylaw was killed, it was a blow to have something like a Furyan take over and completely dismantled the Way of the Necromonger. He refused to take the journey, the Holy Journey of all Lord Marshals to see the gates of the Underverse and he also refused the Cleansing. By the Underverse, he wasn't even Marked.

Chronis has been a Necromonger for almost fifty years. He had served under the Lord Marshal before Zhylaw, been apart of the Furyan infanticide and watch Zhylaw become the next Lord Marshal. Then he had the horror of watching Riddick take over the throne and see him disgrace the Necromonger Way.

When he heard that Riddick had bred, actually bred like an unclean Breeder with a flashy Hitomian wrench. WHILE HE WAS LORD MARSHAL. This was the blasphemy that he could not stand.

However, when he heard from Dame Vaako, that he had a son, an impressionable boy of fourteen with the same woman. Chronis took this chance to act.

Over the years of Riddick's reign he had collected and gathered young, gullible, and newly Marked Necros to his side, and any other Necromonger angry at Riddick's refusal to complete the sacred pilgrimage to his side, until he had a small army under his command.

Of course, this was made difficult due to Vaako's suspicion of him. For some unconceivable reason, the loyal fool showed more loyalty to Riddick, than he ever did to Zhylaw. But undermining him was easy with the surprisingly efforts of Dame Vaako, his own wife spying on him and warning Chronis whenever Vaako tried to find evidence of treason on his part.

And thus it was quite simple to have Dame Vaako drug her husband when Chronis acted and sent his soldiers to fetch the boy and Riddick's loyal pet hacker. He was quite surprised when Samaiel, his most second in command, brought back a young girl too.

Samaiel was young, but he was one of the most skilled soldiers within the Necromonger army and because of his youth, his skills and strength would only grow. He proved to be a very powerful asset to Chronis' troops because of his popularity within the ranks was what drew more to his side.

He said nothing about the girl, but made sure that Samaiel know that it was not the Necromonger Way to let the delights of the flesh deter one from purpose. Samaiel, who was followed the Way strictly, agreed, yet he was often seen courting the girl. There was something about seeing them together that sent a tremor down his spine. He couldn't put his finger on it, but for some unfathomable reason, he had the notion that they should NEVER become husband and wife.

That didn't matter now though. His plan was now coming into fruition and he must now prepare the boy to do his part.

* * *

Riddick entered the grant throne room which was empty. It was unusual for grand throne room to be so empty. It was his lastest clue that something was not right.

Chronis was standing beside the throne with a shit eating grin on his face. Riddick knew that he should have killed the old man as soon as he became Lord Marshal. He was the most outspoken one of the council and he was gathering those loyal to him.

"Old Crone Chronis, why ain't I surprised to see you as the head of all this bullshit." Riddick asked as he came to the center of the throne room.

"We are through having an unclean Furyan mongrel desecrating the title of the Lord Marshal any longer." Chronis said ignoring the nickname Riddick gave him.

"I didn't want it." Riddick replied. "But it was you people that sat my ass on the throne and kept me there."

"Oh, it wasn't me. I had nothing to do with that." Chronis assured him coldly.

"I heard you got my son here. Where is he?" Riddick asked coldly getting straight to the point of his mission. "If ya got 'im, I wanna see 'im."

"Very well. He's been very eager to see you too." Chronis made a signal and a door opened.

Riddick turned his head and saw Roland walking into the throne room. He was wearing Necromonger armor with his head bare. Riddick saw that he had shaven his head and wearing black goggles. He looked remarkably a lot like him, except younger and smaller. He carried in his hand a long staff with a double bladed axe at the end. He stopped at the edge of the circular area and said, "Hi, Dad."

Riddick hid it quite well that this was something he had not been expecting. "Roland, we got Jack back and he's alright. Your Mom was worried about you."

"Oh, so now she's worried about ME." Roland replied sarcastically. "Now she's got time to worry about her first born again, huh?"  
"She was when she heard the Necros destroyed Yari." Riddick said.

At this Roland's eyebrows arched. "What?"

Riddick couldn't hide the smile that touched his lips. "What? Ya didn't know? After they nicked you, they roasted Yari. No survivors."

Roland's hands tightened on the staff. "That's a lie. You're just lying to me like you lied to Mom."

"Lie to Rakka? What did I lie about, Roland?"

"You lied about Jack being stolen! You arrange for Jack to be kidnapped so you can take her away on some fake mission!"

"That's a pack of bullshit and you fuckin' know it, Roland." Riddick snapped. "If you don't believe me, then come ask your mother. I know where she is and I can take you to her."

Roland relented his tight grasp on the staff and stepped back into a fighting stance. Riddick's eyebrows curiously and he said, "You've been trained."

"Yeah, I learned a lot." Roland said.

The guards that escorted Riddick with guns to his back stepped away, but barred the exit behind him. Riddick stepped forward and shook his head. "Ya gotta kiddin' me. Kid, Chronis is usin' you."

"So? No more than you used Mom!" Roland snapped hefting the axe backwards.

"Lissen to me, boy." Riddick growled. "Didn't Chronis tell you about a certain law that the Necros got? 'Keep what you kill'? You kill me and yer gonna be the new Lord Marshal and then every fucker in this fucked up religion is gonna be after your neck to be the next Lord Marshal. Or maybe Chronis has himself a gun tucked away to shoot you in the back after you kill me. Think about it."

Roland faltered for only a second. "My life was good before you came. Sure, my REAL dad died, but it would have gotten better, but NO! You had to show up and take my Mom away and my baby brother!"

This time, he attacked. He swung the axe expertly despite his age, but Riddick's hefty fighting experience had him waiting for this and stepped away as the blade whistled inches from his chest.

"Boy, you do that again and I'm gonna embarrass you in front of these men." Riddick warned him in a tone that had made mercs, inmates, and guards alike step back smartly heed his warning. But there had been stupids that didn't take it seriously. Roland was one of them.

He swung again and this time he dropped to one knee. Riddick dodged the axe the same way again, but this time he stepped to the side after the axe swung past and grabbed the staff. Roland twisted it to get it out of his grip, but Riddick was by far stronger. He yanked it forward, taking Roland off his knees and sprawled onto the floor.

He rolled away instantly and withdrew a long knife from his hip. He got to his feet in one smooth motion. He had been training for the last several weeks.

Riddick removed his belt, not bothering to get his own shiv. He pulled it free form the loops of his pants and held it near the buckle. Roland stood in a stance, holding the knife skillfully. He may have inherited Riddick's knifing skills after all.

Roland was too angry and too unfocused and much too inexperience. This had to be his first true fight. He was making the mistake of letting his emotions control his actions and this greatly concerned Riddick.

Roland had been trained well and he had to have been a very fast learner to perform these moves with ease, but he was just too inexperienced and angry to assure anyone an easy victory. Anyone skilled in fighting could see this, and surely whoever trained Roland could see this too. Chronis wasn't depending on Roland to kill him, but possibly to _distract _him.

Riddick took this time to quickly push his goggles up his forehead. He glanced around while Roland studied him for an opening. Nothing, but that just meant that Chronis planned this real well.

Roland slashed forward, but Riddick danced away from it, but swung his belt and slapped it across the back of Roland's thighs. The boy yelped with shock and pain, this gave it the effect that Riddick wanted, it made Roland angrier. The boy's attacks were easier to predict now and it gave Riddick time to think.

Okay, he knew that Chronis was planning on Roland killing him, but if he did, it was plus because he completely had the boy in his pocket, so it was someone that he could easily control, but confidence that he could kill Riddick.

Chronis could shoot easily shoot him with a gun and finish him, but that would be foolish on his part. The old man was about to hit seventy, he was too old to hold the throne until some young and ambitious Necromonger easily killed him. So it would have to be someone under his thrall.

But who? Who could Chronis easily manipulate and had the skills to kill him if he was distracted by his own son? Vaako? He would be the most likely choice because of his attempt during that day with Zhylaw, but Riddick doubted it. Under his rule, Vaako seemed to change and had his wife under more control. No, he was loyal, though he didn't agree with Riddick's policy; he washed his hands of betrayal.

Samaiel, that had to be him. He was in Chronis's pocket and he was skilled too. But then again, Samaiel wasn't the type to kill a distracted man. It had to be some stupid goon then. . .

Riddick, during this whole time, had been easily dodging and ducking Roland's hasty attacks, each time rewarding him with a swat from the belt. He kept looking around for any possible threat, then it came.

It was fucking missile. Someone was up in one of the balconies with a microsonic missile launcher. He heard the small missile leave the cannon in time for him to grab Roland in mid slash and lung forward out of the way. The blast threw them and they both skidded across the floor.

Riddick lifted off a dazed Roland and look over his shoulder from where the missile was fired. Sure enough, there was a tall and rather large Necromonger holding the missile launcher. He was Tilos, a converted convict from one of the Slams that Riddick took over. He had been in Slam for several accounts of murder and rape. When he received the Mark, he had been very ambitious and very stupid. No wonder he was one of the first to side with Chronis.

He was aiming the launcher, that brand could only hold three missiles, so Riddick had only seconds to act. He was too far to accurately throw his only shiv into Tilos's throat, nor was there time to struggle to get Roland's. He didn't try to use Roland as a shield, because he knew that Chronis cared nothing about him and Tilos would be more than happy to blast through Roland's body to kill him.

Riddick got to his feet and ran. A missile launched and hit the far wall faraway from Roland, but was a foot and a half behind Riddick. Fortunately, Tilos had bad aim. Riddick headed for Chronis and could see the panic in his eyes. He hadn't planned on this.

Riddick knocked the gun out of his hand as he snatched it from his robes. He slung the old man to the front of him and held him like a shield.

"STOP STOP!" Chronis screamed at Tilos in a shrill tone despite his age. Tilos lowered the launcher only a fraction, but then lifted it back up with a crooked smile on his lips.

"Looks like he ain't as loyal as ya thought, Old Crone." Riddick said into Chronis' ear.

Tilos fired his final shot. Riddick threw Chronis away from him and threw himself out of the missile's target. His shoulder hit the floor and he was on his back in time to see Roland running toward Chronis with all his might.

He hit the old man with his shoulder and for one terrifying moment, it appeared that the missile was going to blast into Roland as he shoved Chronis out of the way. It missed him by less than a foot and the blast sent both the elderly and the youth out onto the smooth floor. Riddick smelled blood and knew Roland had been wounded, but now he couldn't concern himself with that.

He raised the gun he had taken from Chronis and fired it. Tilos's head rocked back as the bullet entered his head. He fell backwards, dropping the launcher and collapse to the floor in a dead heap.

The doors burst open and Vaako with the Purifier, Yargo, rampaged in followed by soldiers who moved around them and took the guards blocking the exit into custody. Vaako stepped forward, but he looked tired and there were beads of sweat on his brow. He kept panting as if he was trying to fight off fatigue.

"Milord, we came. . .as soon. . .as we were able." Vaako gasped and looked as if he was about to collapse.

Yargo stepped forward to stand beside Vaako as if to offer assistance if it was needed. He was a smaller man than Vaako, with deeply tanned skin and dark hair, but he knew how to use a weapon.

Vaako shrugged him off and said, "I nearly had to strangle the information from my wife's throat."

"It's okay." Riddick said brushing off the dust from his armor. "Has the other traitors been taken care of?"

"Yes, Milord." Vaako nodded. "They have been taken into custody and are now being interrogated to discover the identity of more traitors."

"Good." Riddick replied. "Just like we planned through Adrian."

"It was very, very fortunate you came into contact with him while you were with the Hitomians, sir." Yargo said praisingly.

"Yeah, I still don't know how he found me." Riddick said rubbing the back of his scalp. "He filled me in on everythin' goin' on that he could. I had Rakka say where I was gonna be, and of course Chronis came runnin'."

Riddick turned his attention to Roland who was lying on the floor bleeding from several places on his legs and on his shoulder. "Get medics down here stat."

"What about the Traitor?" Vaako turned his eyes to glare with hate at Chronis who was out cold on the floor, but was still alive.

"I'm gonna handle him myself." Riddick replied walking over to Chronis's prone body.

"No!" Roland scrabble across the floor toward Chronis despite his injuries. "Stop! Don't touch him!"

"Kid, this guy just about got you killed." Riddick snapped holding the gun pointed at Chronis' head.

"I SAID DON'T HURT HIM!" Roland screamed managing to throw himself over the old man's body.

"Okay, kid, I won't." Riddick snapped holstering the gun into his belt. "But he IS under arrest, but I'm gonna say this now because I want to have the chance later to say to you, I told you so. That man yer willin' to protect with your life don't give a flyin' fuck about you and wouldn't mind seeing you killed to get him what he wants. So you be on your fuckin' guard around him, cuz I ain't watchin' yer back!"


	64. Reunion

For the last two months, Rakka kept herself busy so she would have time to worry. Her 38th birthday blew through; she refused to attend the celebration and received numerous gifts from dozens of people that she didn't know at all. Noa had the gall to send her expensive bath oils which brought back memories of Noa drugging her. These she simply poured down the sink.

During the long wait, she took care of Jack, received visits from the Old Queen, and began her studies of becoming the next queen.

She was told that she would be receiving a tutor to help her. At this, she felt calmer and more confident about the studies and she would be getting one on one help with the tutor. However, the subject material was beyond her understanding. She was expected to know history, economics (her most hated subject), Hitomian literature, learn several languages, algebra, politics, agriculture, geography, religion, theology, Court Room etiquette, music, and even fucking dance.

Instead of one tutor, she had several and they were strict. They acted like they had sticks stuck up their asses. They didn't bother to try to break the subject down into simply so Rakka could easily understand and absorb the abundant information. They told her that they had taught at the highest universities throughout the universe.

She tried to be patient and tried to do as they instructed, but it grated on her. She felt incompetent because she was getting nowhere with the material in the weeks that she been studying. It was the day before she heard of the results of Riddick's rescue mission that she blew up.

"No, that isn't right Princess." The tutor, a tall woman in her late forties with her graying tied up into a ball, tapped on the paper Rakka was scribbling on. "Y54 is the answer. Now work this one." She tapped the second problem.

"How do I work it?" Rakka asked, feeling like . "I mean, there are so many ways of. . ."

"You're suppose to SIMPLIFY it. You are 38 years old and you can't do the simplest problem. . ."

"WELL, FUCKING EXCUSE ME!" Rakka surged up from her chair, knocking it backwards and scattering the papers onto the floor. The tutor looked astounded at her and back away a few feet. Rakka knocked the text book off the table enraged and continued screaming. "It's been fifteen fucking years since I cracked open a text book! I haven't had to study shit like this since High School! And I don't even care about this shit!"

Rakka turned away and left the library. Over the months, she had become more familiar with the mansion. She walked up the stairs quick enough to almost trip on her long skirts.

She groaned with frustration. She didn't know why the hell they insisted she wear robes and dresses instead of less formal clothing such as sweaters and jeans which she would feel much more comfortable wearing.

"Oh my, Princess, you should be much more careful." A sultry voice said nearly startling her.

She turned her head back and saw Noa standing at the bottom of stairs smiling at her. Rakka felt her rage bump up a few more degrees. Ever since the Ball, when she discovered that Noa had yet again lied to her about her background, she had kept her distance from the Liika and Corovore family. She only exchange polite pleasantries with them whenever they crossed each other's paths and would quickly leave their presence with whatever excuse she could think of.

"Thank you, I will do that." Rakka said through gritted teeth. She turned to continue up the stairs.

"Princess, I was wondering if I could ask you to tea one day." Noa said sweetly. "Just you and me. . ."

"I don't know." Rakka said since saying 'I don't know' is a lot more polite than a 'hell no'. "I've been busy studying and taking care of Jack. . .I don't know if I have time for anything else."

"Cale has wanted to see you." Noa said walking up the stairs toward her.

"I know." Rakka replied making her way up the stairs away from her approach. She didn't want to be any where close this woman.

"How long has . . . your husband been gone?" Noa had the gall to ask her.

Rakka stopped at the top of the stairs and turned her blue-violet eyes on Noa. "About eight weeks now."

"Hmmm. . .he leaves for a two months right after you are wedded." Noa commented midway up the stairs. Rakka noticed her dress. It was gray as was her usual attire and it clung to her shapely body, leaving her shoulders bare along with a great deal of her cleavage. Rakka believed that she was showing off her body for her. As Noa came to the top of the stairs beside her, she leaned her and said, "Shouldn't he be here having a long honeymoon with you?"

Rakka hoped her face wasn't as red as what she was feeling inside. "There is a ." long story behind that. Don't talk about things that you don't know shit about."  
Noa leaned back, pale eyebrows arched and replied, "My, you must have had a rough time with the tutor."

"And how would you know I just came from tutoring?" Rakka asked narrowing her eyebrows. "You've been following me? Stalking me?"

"Of course not." Noa said with an edge to her voice. "I was just returning to our rooms."

"How long does you family intend to stay?" Rakka heard herself ask. "Everyone else who attended the Ball has returned to their homes, including your sister's."

Noa looked affronted and said, "I had thought our family was welcomed here."

Rakka shrugged and said, "You stay long enough somewhere and you're bound to wear out your welcome sometime."

Noa looked as if Rakka had just slapped her across the face. "Very well, then. My family and I will be gone before night."

"Thank you." Rakka said, filling her stomach fill with dread at what she may have done. Noa turned around and walked quickly down the hall toward the suite that the Corvore Family had inhabited for the last weeks.

Rakka watched her leave having the feeling that she had done something very bad. She went back to her suite which had been her home since she first arrived. Rera was feeding Jack in the living room. She was reclined in an armchair humming a soft Hitomian song to him.

Rera looked up at her surprised and stood disturbing Jack who complained loudly behind the bottle. "Rakka? You are back early." Over the months, Rakka had managed to break Rera of addressing her with royal titles and just use her name.

"Yes, I cut the lesson short." Rakka replied. "How is he?"

"Getting hungrier and hungrier everyday." Rera replied settling Jack comfortably against her chest. "And heavier."

Rakka crossed the room and held her arms out for him. Rera easily passed him to her along with the bottle. Jack looked up into her face and grinned recognizing her. They had bonded over the weeks, though at first Jack had screamed and screamed demanding Riddick. He had gotten bigger in the last two months. Just about anything that gets into his small hands would head straight to his mouth and he screamed when Rera and Rakka took away anything that could harm him.

"Mommy's here." Rakka said sweetly to her baby boy.

For the next several hours, Rakka fed, played, and bathed Jack. He went easily to bed in his nursery and Rakka ate a small meal and was preparing for bed when the Old Queen showed up.

The door opened to emit an angry old woman in a wheel chair who started shouting for her. "Rakka! You bad girl, get in here! Now!"

Bad girl? Rakka looked herself in the mirror and didn't feel like a girl at all. She was wearing a long nightshirt and quickly threw on a robe and entered the living room where her great grandmother was fuming from her wheelchair.

"Grandmother?" She asked in a high peaceful tone.

"Don't you 'Grandmother?' me! You have a lot to answer for!" The Old Queen snapped rolling forward closer to Rakka. "The tutor is. . .is. . .in shock right now! Professor Golver NEVER had a pupil act so disrespectfully toward her in such a way. That woman almost fainted when she told me. . .it is NOT funny, Rakka!"

Rakka tried to fight it, but a grin was breaking out across her lips. "I'm sorry, but she was being disrespectful to me first. I. . .I just got to frustrated in there. I haven't sat in a classroom for less than fifteen years, but less opened a text book. I'm too old to learn anything."

"That is nonsense. Rakka, you got to try. It is not that hard."

"That's easy for you to say. You grew up learning how to be a ruler. It was given to you easily, step by step over the years of your life. For me, they want me to learn it all in one fell swoop!"

"Rakka, we don't have years for you to learn it step by step." The Old Queen responded. "I may be a tough old fart, but it's starting to creep up on me. I don't think I'll be able to last long enough for your third child to grow up and take over as queen."

"Grandmother, I am not having another child until Riddick gets back with my first." Rakka snapped.

"He's been gone for about two month now." The Old Queen with the same tone as Noa had used.

"You think he left me." Rakka asked her arms over her chest. "That doesn't make sense to me. We talked about it before we married. We would leave the door open for divorce incase it didn't work out. For him to just up and leave isn't something he would do. If he wanted to end it, he would tell me so, not just run away."

"I know, he isn't the type to do that either." The Old Queen agreed.

"Also, he told me he would be gone for a while. . .a long while, but it will be worth it if he brings Roland back to me." Rakka rubbed one of her eyes. "I'm going to bed."

"Not so fast. The tutor isn't the only one you pissed off today. The Corovore family is deeply insulted because you asked them to leave."

"I did not ask them to leave!" Rakka bite back. "I was talking with Noa and. . ."

"Did the words 'wearing out your welcome' not come out of your mouth?" The Old Queen asked in a harsh tone. "I would have thought that you would have passed etiquette with flying colors, but it looks like it might be the lesson that you need to learn most of all."

"Look, it was that bitch who took it the wrong way. Besides, her family has been hanging around here too long."

"It doesn't matter how long they stay!" The Old Queen snapped. "You NEVER throw someone out of your home unless they do something that deserves it! As long as they act like guests, we'll act like hosts."

"Are they leaving?" Rakka asked.

"I don't know. You are going to apologize to them and ask them not to leave."

"Fuck that!" Rakka snapped. "I'll write them an apology letter, but like hell am I going to ask them stay where they're not wanted."

"You will do these things with your head held high, do you understand!" The Old Queen snapped. "Just because I'm old and in a wheelchair doesn't mean I can't beat the shit out you."

"Grandmother." Rakka moaned, rolling her eyes.

The wheelchair launched forward hitting Rakka's legs and nearly making her drop to the floor. She grabbed onto the back of the couch to steady herself and push herself back to her feet. "Goddamit!"

The Old Queen backed up a few feet and growled, "Don't you start disrespecting me! You acted like a spoiled brat today and now you're going to have to face consequences like an adult."

Rakka rubbed one of her sore shins and said, "Fine, fine, I'll fucking do it, but I'm NOT going to say anything about me being happy that they're here. I'm not going to lie. Nor am I going to get on hands and knees and BEG them to stay. I'll ASK them not to go once and only ONCE."

"Whatever. As long as you ask." The Old Queen muttered.

"May I NOW go to bed?" Rakka yelled.

"Please do, maybe in the morning you wake up with a better attitude." The Old Queen rotated her wheelchair and rolled out.

Since Rakka was so angry after the Old Queen left, it took her a long while to calm down and go to sleep. What enraged her most was that it was true, that she was acted like a child today with both the tutor and Noa.

She went into Jack's nursery and watched him sleep for several minutes. It calmed her down just watching him breath and make a soft sound as he breathed. She realized what was really bothering her. Sure, the tutor made her angry, but it was everything else about Riddick.

Noa, the Old Queen, and so was the public believing that Riddick had left her. The news kept reporting how Riddick was not with her and the men of the Court were trying to put in their bids incase it was true. Flowers, love letters, and even small gifts would show up in her rooms from various hopefuls. These she would always send back with note stamped on them saying that she was a married woman now.

She knew that Riddick didn't leave her, what bothered her that he may not be able to come back. He was mortal after all, despite his strength and resilience, he could still be killed, and no matter how hard that could be. God, two months. A lot could happen in two months. Was he dead? Was she waiting for a dead man?

And there was still that. . .that small chance that. . .Roland may not be alive. . .no, she shouldn't think like that at all. She had to keep hoping that Riddick could call at anytime and tell her that he was fine. Alive and well.

She forced herself to relax and think about something else as she lay in bed. It was two hours later before finally went to sleep.

* * *

"Princess, Princess, wake up, please wake up."

Rakka groaned and opened her eyes. Rera was leaning over her with a frantic look on her face. She kept patting her arm and shoulder and speaking loudly. "Rera? What time is it?"

"3:00 in the morning, ma'am, but there a com signal for you. From the Lord Marshal, from Riddick!"

Rakka sat up so quickly that she nearly banged her head against Rera's face. "What? From Riddick?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Rera said holding out the com. "Hera had it transferred here to you. He's requested to speak with you first."

Rakka practically snatched the com from Rera's hands and slapped it to her ear. "Riddick?"

"Yeah, honey, it's me." Came the gravelly voice that Rakka came to love so much. "On my way to get you."

Her heart was pounding beneath her breast and she said, "Roland! What about. . ."  
"He's alive, but he was wounded last month. Nothin' serious, he's almost healed."

"What happened?" Rakka grasped the com so tightly to her ear that it hurt her fingers.

"A fuck got gun crazy with a missile launcher, but nobody died but him.

"Oh God." Rakka breathed, her heart not loosing its beating velocity. "What has been happening to Roland all this time?"  
"Lemme start from the beginnin'." Riddick said. "You know how I became the Lord Marshal and how there was a lotta Necros ain't happy about it. One of tha top ones was this old fuck. Chronis. Over the years I was Lord Marshal he started collectin' followers, people who'll do what he wanted."

"What does this have to do with Roland?" She asked impatiently.

"Plenty, lemme finish. When you was pregnant with Jack and I came and stayed with ya till ya gave birth and then we went to Discu to get 'im back, Chronis used this time to take control of the Basilica. He arranged for his men to land on Yari and kidnap Roland, Carol, and Adrian. . ."

"Carol and Adrian are alive!" Rakka gasped.

"Yeah, yeah, they took them to the Basilica too." Riddick replied with an irritated edge to his voice. "Don't interrupt till I finish talkin' alright? I got a lot to say and not much time to say it all. Gonna have to turn off signal when we pass through this asteroid belt."

"Alright, alright, sorry." Rakka replied quickly. "Go ahead, go ahead and tell me the rest."

"When Roland got on the Basilica, Chronis had wanted to use him as a hostage or bait to lure me into a trap so he could have some fucker kill me and become the new Lord Marshal, one that he could control and rule the Nercos through him. But he saw that Roland was pissed off at me."

"Pissed?" Rakka interrupted yet again. "Why would he be pissed at you?"

"Bitch, you interrupt me again and I will turn this fucking transmission off and yer gonna hafta wait til your afternoon time to hear the rest."

"Okay." Rakka said in an apologetic tone,

"So he started trainin' Roland, lettin' 'im learn how to fight with a weapon, self defense, the whole shit. He's pretty good too, but very inexperience. Anyway, Chronis wanted to use him as a way to distract me so another punk could shoot me from behind with a fuckin' missile launcher."

"Oh, God." Rakka whispered.

Riddick chose to let it go and continued, "Luckily, Adrian was still alive to send me a transmission message while we were aboard the Titania."

"WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE!" Rakka screamed into the com.

"I'm turnin' off the transmission."

"RIDDICK! You turn off this transmission and I will. . ."

Click. She heard the empty tone and she began cussing at it heatedly.

* * *

She couldn't go back to sleep to save herself. She called the Old Queen over the com and received an answer from her personal maid. The maid told her that the Old Queen up and speaking with Hera. Rakka left a message with her to have the Old Queen call her the second she returned to her rooms,

Rakka got up and furiously brushed her hair out. There was nothing else she could do at this time. Anyone she could talk to wasn't available and nobody was contacting her. God! Why did she have to go and piss off Riddick or else he would be filling her in on everything that was happening.

Roland was alive, but he was hurt. How bad was hurt? She seethed with fury at Riddick. He KNEW, he KNEW what Roland had been up to and he didn't bother to tell her, just like the whole bit about being a princess.

Dammit! If it was going to be like this during their marriage, then she didn't see it lasting much longer. God, maybe she rushed into this marriage too quickly after all. Damn him!

Finally, the com starting beeping and she nearly threw her brush aside. She snatched it up to her ear and nearly hollered, "Yes?"

"It's me." The Old Queen said over the phone. "I'm surprised you called me. I'd imagine that you would still be on the line talking to your long lost husband."

"He and I had a spat and he hung up." Rakka said. "He said that he was on his way."

"Yes, he alerted us ahead of time telling us that a small Necro ship was on its way, so we shouldn't panic and shoot it down. He's coming to get you and take back to the Basilica."

Rakka bit her bottom lip and said, "I take it that the Court isn't too happy about me going anywhere with the Lord Marshal, even though he is my legal husband?"

"You hit the nail on the head." The Old Queen replied. "Rakka, now is a pretty good time to start thinking about what you should do in your life with Riddick."

Rakka swallowed and said, "Meaning?"

"Meaning about where you're going to live, where Roland is going to continue his education, and how are you and Riddick going to juggle being two leaders of two very different races and being parents both at the same time. Also, there is that third child to think about."

Rakka closed her eyes and didn't reply. Deep down, in the back of her mind, she knew this was something she would have to decide about after Roland was returned safely. She dreaded it because she knew that the decisions made would affect them for the rest of their lives. Jack and Roland's future was going to be determined by her.

"Rakka? Rakka, are you there?"

She shook out of it and said, "Riddick and I are going to make those decisions together. After I spend a few days with Roland, Riddick and I are going have a long chat about it and decide."

"Can you give me a preview?" The Old Queen asked hopefully.

"Honestly, I have no clue as to what we're going to do. I don't even know what the options are. Whatever we're going to do, the kids come first."

"I understand. Riddick's ship will be landing by around noon. He says he's going to stay as long as it takes to refuel the ship and for you to board."

"I'm taking Jack with me." Rakka said in a stiff tone. "I'm not going to be separated from him again."

"I understand that too, but take Rera with you too. She can help look after him while you deal with other family business." The Old Queen told her. "I'm also sending Hera along with someone that she will choose as bodyguards."

"I don't think. . ."  
"No, you don't think. I am NOT letting the last living member of my family go off with a planet killing race without SOME protection."

It sank easily into her. The Old Queen loved her, actually loved her. It brought warmth to her chest to realize this and she said, "Thank you, and. . .I'm sorry about the fight we had."

"I'm sorry about it too. I know it's frustrating to handle freeloaders like the Corovores. The trick is not to MAKE them leave, it is to get them to WANT to leave."

Rakka tilted her head in interest. "And how would that work?"

"Well, after you leave, I don't think Noa is going to be interested in staying any longer, so if you come back, be sure to come back after she leaves. That way, she can't invite herself back."

"Wonderful." Rakka said feeling relieved.

"Rakka, I'm going to be worried about you, so keep calling me and updating me, okay?"  
"I will, I will. . .Grandmother. . .did Riddick ever received any personal. . .transmissions while we were on the Titania?"

"Well. . .yes, he did. While you were sick with the flu. They were private so he took them alone."

"Do you know who was sending the message?" Rakka asked feeling her arms start to ache with rage at Riddick.

"From some Adrian fellow." The Old Queen replied. "Is something wrong?"  
"No, no, I was just curious. Thank you for telling me."  
"Rakka, go back to bed. Get a few more hours of sleep, it'll do you some good."

"I might do that." Rakka replied. She told her goodnight and hung up the com.

* * *

Rakka didn't go to bed at all. She didn't even try to go back to bed at all. What she did do was start packing. She didn't bother with the dresses. . .well, she might take two or three incase she needed something formal to wear. Mostly she packed jeans, loose pants, sweaters, t-shirts, and halter tops. She didn't know what kind of climate she would be leaving for so she wanted something for both warm and cold.

Then she started packing clothes for Jack. Both warm and cold clothes, along with favored blankets, pacifiers, toys, diapers, bottles, formula, his carrier, and also a fold up stroller. She even went and told Rera to get herself ready too.

"How long will we be gone?" Rera asked staring at her with wide gold eyes. She had been dusting in the living room, wanting to get some work done before the day came.

"I. . .I don't know and I'm not sure where we're going, but I'm going to take Jack with me and you'll be needed to help out with him." Rakka explained. "I suggest you bring clothes for cold and warm weather, because I don't know if we'll be going to a different planet."

Rera went back to her private room to pack. Rakka felt sorry for her. The girl did not want to go at all, and here she was being forced to go because it was part of her job. Rakka made it a mental to note to give her a raise if everything turns out alright.

It was nearly 5:00 by the time they finished packing everything they would need. Rakka kept checking the clock, she didn't realize how slow time would go if you were waiting for something to happen. She hated herself again for not being quiet and letting Riddick finish his story, that way she could be thinking of what should prepare to say to Roland when she saw him again.

At 6:00, she ate a light breakfast and fed a waking Jack. She used him to make the time go by changing and playing with him. It was at 7:00 when she got a visitor she didn't like.

Noa.

* * *

"Madame, you have a visitor." Rera said disturbing her.

Rakka had been playing with Jack by jingling keys in front of him. She looked over her shoulder from her sitting place on the rocking chair. "Who is it?"

"It is Noa Corovore." Rera said hesitantly.

"Dammit." Rakka hissed under her breath. She began racking her brain for some excuse not to meet with Noa. "Tell her I'm busy with Jack, but find out why she is here."

Rera bowed and left to fulfill Rakka's orders. Rakka got up from the rocking chair and carried Jack to his crib. He began to whimper with complaints as she settled him into on the cushion. She soothed him by turning on the over head projector which created dancing lights on the sides of the crib which should entertain him while she dealt with Noa.

She took several deep breaths and swore to herself that she would keep her temper in check and not blow up at her. She would not embarrass herself and her grandmother again.

Rera came back and said, "She wanted to invite you to dinner, Madame."

Rakka felt relieved that she wouldn't be force to go out of obligation. "Okay, give me a few minutes and I'll go deal with her."

Rakka scrounged up as much of her courage and patience as she thought possible. She entered the living room behind Rera to see Noa sitting on her couch.

The woman was wearing a dress that resembled the one she wore during the spat Rakka had with her, except it was more provocative. It was strapless and showed of enough of her cleavage that Rakka was sure that another centimeter lower and she see the pink area of her nipple. The dress even exposed her trim hips in triangular patches.

Noa leaned back into the cushion and grinned at Rakka. "I heard that you were up and about so early in the morning so I came for a visit."

"Oh, I was just getting ready to leave." Rakka said and took great delight in seeing the grin fade slowly from Noa's face.

"Leave? Why would you want to leave this beautiful mansion?" Noa asked with concern in her voice.

"My -husband- is coming to pick us up." Rakka replied sweetly, enunciating the word husband perfectly.

Noa couldn't hide the look of disdain from her face and she said, "Oh, he's coming back, how nice."

"Yes, we're going to see my firstborn, Roland."

"Do you know when you'll be back?"

"No, no idea. I don't even know where I'm going." Rakka replied, not loosing the glee she felt.

Noa digested this information with disdain. "I see. Then I suppose inviting you out to dinner wouldn't be. . .accepted?"

"It appears that way." Rakka replied. "If you don't mind, I have to finish packing and getting ready, Riddick, my husband, will be here soon."

"I see." Noa repeated and she rose from the couch. "I'll leave you alone now."

"Thank you."

Rakka nearly cheered when the door shut behind Noa. Let her chew on that for a while and what was so wonderful that she would have to make that apology because she could use packing as an excuse. Even though the bags and cases were already packed and stacked in the next room. All she had to do was to wait for Riddick to arrive.

* * *

The next several hours were agonizing for Rakka. She constantly paced the living room, sometimes talking to Rera or carrying Jack in her arms. She kept thinking of things they would so she could go pack it and have something to do to past time.

Rera had tried to humbly encourage her to relax and possibly take a nap to rest up for the trip. Rakka snapped back that they might have to go into cryo to get where they're going. That greatly scared Rera who had NEVER in her life went into cryo.

Rakka instantly regretted telling her this. She herself had went through a fear of cryo before being force to go into it during her travel to Yari. She comforted the maid by describing how cryo works and how you entered into deep sleep.

She hadn't meant to snap at Rera, she was irritated and impatient. Time seemed to inch slower and slower to noon. Her arms were itching and aching by the time noon rolled around. It was as if sharp chips of glass were digging into her chest when she didn't receive the call that Riddick came.

Was Riddick wrong about when he would arrived? God, she didn't think she could spend another day waiting.

She was tired; her eyes were blurry for want of sleep. Maybe she should have taken a short nap like Rera suggested?

Finally, the com started beeping. She practically tackled it from her bedstead and pressed it tightly to her ear. "Yes?"

It was Hera. "He just arrived at the landing port. There is a limo waiting for outside. A guard is on his way to escort you to the hover."  
"Great, wonderful."

"I hope you packed lightly."

"I only packed what we needed, but Jack needs a lot of things."  
"That's understandable."

There was a knock on the door and Rakka quickly said goodbye to Hera. "Rera, let's go."

* * *

It was a twenty minute drive to the landing port. The travelers consisted of Rakka, Jack, Rera, Hera, and a new person, a Hitomian man by the name of Ayamu who had shoulder length dark hair and had blood red eyes, true red eyes. He was tall and had a lanky body, but he was Hera's best soldier for some reason.

She held Jack in her arms as they rode the elevator up to the landing pad to where Riddick's ship was being prepped for the return trip to wherever. When the doors slide open to reveal the Necro ship and Riddick overseeing mechanics double check the ship, she wanted to run to him.

She walked ahead of the group and headed for Riddick. She chose to wear a pair of jeans with a long sleeve blue sweater. Riddick was wearing armor, the same armor he wore when she met up with him again after fifteen years on Yari.

He turned to her as if he already knew she was there. He watched her approach him through those obsidian goggles. When she got close enough he lifted two armored gloved hands hand grasp her face and pulled her into a deep sexual kiss. All was forgotten about how he hung up on her and how he knew long before she about Roland, Carol, and Adrian being alive and what had been going on with Roland.

As he broke off the kiss, Riddick took Jack from her and said close to her face, "Jack's bigger."

"He's two months older than when you last saw him." She replied softly.

Jack was wearing small blue sweater that almost matched Rakka's, tiny jeans, with a wool cap on his head. His tiny hand was patting Riddick's armor and his eyes were staring at it with intrigue. The matching blue pacifier bobbed in his mouth right below his button nose.

Rakka rubbed Jack's arm and said, "He missed you."

Riddick seemed to somewhat hold Jack closer to his chest and said, "We're leaving in five minutes."

"Where are we going?" She asked as Riddick passed Jack back to her.

"To Refu. A small planet on the edge of the Helion system. Hope ya brought yer umbrellas, by the time we get there it's gonna in its rain season and it floods."

"How long will it take for us to get there?" Rakka asked.

"A month."

"Dammit, Riddick, I've been separated from Roland for nearly five months now!"

"Then that's why I ain't stayin' here long. Soon as we load up, we kin go." Riddick replied turning and heading to the ship.

* * *

Rera and Ayamu packed the suitcases in the cargo hold while Rakka stored Jack's things in cabinet in the back of the ship. The ship was large and comfortable to room the group of travelers.

Riddick had with him Vaako who would be co-piloting the ship before they got into cryo. The Necromonger gave Jack a long stare as if it had been many years since he last saw an infant. Jack happily ignored the Commander of the Necromonger Army and toyed with his hands and sucked on his pacifier.

A small cryo unit meant for infants and toddlers was being installed with the larger cryo units. The inside was an egg shaped dipped like a bowl and lined with cotton and plenty of cushioning for comfort. Rakka stared at it and decided that she would wait until Jack was sleep before trying to put him under.

Within twenty minutes of loading, Riddick and Vaako started up the ship. Rakka buckled herself tightly to the seat behind pilots' station and held Jack securely in her arms. He whined during take off, but she sooth him by bouncing him slightly on her lap. However, she did it more to sooth herself.

She never liked space travel. She spent most of her life happily planted on one planet, actually two, Haven and Yari. She kept her attention on Jack and refused to look up to see them passing through the snow heavy clouds, through the blue atmosphere, and into dark space.

She wasn't the only afraid of space flight. Rera was almost tearing Ayamu's arm off by clinging to him. They were seated together on the rack of seats to the right of the ship and Hera was on the other side. She was calm while Ayamu was wincing from pain in his arm.

"Okay, let's hit cryo." Riddick announced ten minutes later as the course was set for the ship and alarms were set to awaken them from cryo when needed.

Rakka unbuckled her harness, stood with Jack tightly in her arms and she said, "Riddick, could you help me put Jack in his first? I want to make sure he sleeps easily before I go under."

Jack's eyes were drooping sleepily as he was carried to his cryo. Riddick stood sleekly from the pilot's seat and headed to the back with her, to where all the cryo units were being kept.

Rakka started speaking softly to Jack while Riddick set up the cryo unit. "It's okay, baby, it's just like going to sleep, except you're going to sleep for a long, long time."

"Rakka, take off his clothes. Gonna hafta hook 'im up to monitors." Riddick said without looking at her.

"Monitors?" Rakka hugged Jack close as if Riddick said they were going to stick fish hooks into him.

"Monitors. Ya know, to keep an eye on his heart rate and shit." Riddick replied pressing some keys on the side.

"Oh." Rakka felt stupid, but she just felt so nervous. She also felt numb, why wasn't she feeling happy about being reunited with Riddick and on her way to see Roland.

She took to the front of the ship and removed his cap, sweater, and little pants. She also checked his diaper and he was fine on that. She heard a wail from the back of the ship and it was Rera.

"Turn this ship! I want to go home!"

Rakka lifted Jack easily into her arms and headed to the back. A cryo unit was open and Ayamu was trying to coax Rera into it.

"Look, it's not dangerous at all. It's just like going to bed." Ayamu said. He was holding onto Rera's arm as if to prevent her from fleeing.

Rera's face was very pale and her gold eyes were wide. Her body shook with terror and she tried to pull away from Ayamu. "No! I. . .I. . .I want off! I want off the ship!"

Hera was leaning against the far wall and she rolled her brown eyes. "Dammit, Rera, why did you not tell anyone that you were claustrophobic?"

"I didn't want to lose my job!" Rera yelled struggling to get away from Ayamu. "I want off!"

"You can't get off. We're in space, you'll die." Ayamu explained patiently.

"Then take me back! I want to go back!" Rera yelped.

Hera stormed forward and grabbed Rera roughly by the shoulders and yanked her around to face her. "You stupid git! We are going to be wasting time because of your stupidity. You are here to help the Princess and by making a scene you hinder her. Get your arse into that cryo unit or you're going to spend the next month tied in the bathroom and starve to death."

Rera started crying and whimpering as she sank to the floor in sheer terror. Rakka felt horrible. She had simply told Rera she was coming and had been so caught up in the fact that Riddick was returning that she hadn't bothered to ask Rera if she wanted to come or not.

"Rakka, it's ready." Riddick called to her over by the baby cryo unit.

She turned her attention away from the sobbing Rera and headed to the cyro which was open and waiting for Jack. Riddick held the lid back and said, "Go ahead and take the pacifier out of his mouth. Can't have it while in cryo."

"He doesn't like for his pacifier to be taken away." Rakka replied.

"Well, he's just ain't gonna like it then." Riddick replied.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." She replied as she tugged the pacifier from Jack's lips.

Instantly Jack began to whimper and the let loose the small chokes that led up to the screeching wail. Rakka rocked Jack back and forth apologizing to him over and over.

"He'll get over it." Riddick said. "Set him inside."

Rakka kissed Jack's jack and gently set him into the dip of the cryo. Jack calmed down, his blue eyes wide with curiosity at the strange bedding he had been placed upon. He wiggled a little while Riddick placed tapered ended cords to his small chest and a tiny band around his wrist and another one around his ankle. He tried to get the cords to put into his mouth, but Riddick would brush his hands away making him whine.

Riddick snapped the egg shape lid Jack and he began to whimper at the intimidating shield. Rakka leaned over the lid and kept waving and smiling at him. She also spoke to him in a high voice to keep him calm.

Riddick rotated a large dial and the hiss of the cryo activating met her ears. Jack stopped whining, his eyes starting to droop and then close. Rakka watched him sleep for a few minutes before looking away. She put away the pacifier and tucked away his clothes. She put the baby bag away and stood up.

Hera and Ayamu were still struggling with Rera over to the far away.

"Look, did you see the baby? He went under smoothly; it's the SAME thing for us except we get in bigger cryos." Ayamu said comforting to Rera.

"Can't. . .can't you put me to sleep? Like give me sleeping pills and while I'm asleep stick me in?" Rera begged.

"No, we can't use sleeping pills. That interferes with the chemicals in the gas used to put us under. You could end up in a permanent coma, have brain damage, or even die."

Rera started to wail, that is until Vaako stepped up behind her and punched the back of her head. She collapsed into a lump on the floor. Rakka stared at her unconscious completely stunned.

"HEY!" Ayamu glared at Vaako and his hand went to his hip for his gun.

"You can get her into cryo with no further problems." Vaako replied without putting up a defense. He simply stated his case and turned his attention to his cryo unit.

Hera dropped a heavy hand on Ayamu's shoulder and said, "He has a point. Rera wanted to be put to sleep before being stuck in cryo and now we can get her in without a fuss. Every wins."

Ayamu dropped his hand from his gun and nodded, "I guess you're right, cousin."

"Wait." Rakka found her voice and said, "I didn't know that you two were related."  
"Actually, all three of us are related." Hera admitted.

"Rera is my sister." Ayamu said as he hefted Rera up against the cryo unit.

"Wait, I don't understand. If she's your sister, then why didn't you know about her fear?"

"Well, we're actually step siblings." Ayamu laid Rera gently inside the cryo unit. "While I was at the Military Academy on Regis 7, my father married her mother. And I wasn't able to meet Rera until I graduated four years later."

"I see." Rakka said still stunned.

Hera activated Rera's cryo unit and sighed, "And I didn't get to meet her till now."  
"Goodness." Rakka muttered.

"It's nothing serious. It's just a typical Hitomian family." Hera replied casually. "As you'll found soon enough is that Hitomian families aren't really close knit as other races' families are. . .except for Necros."

She shot Vaako a hard glare while he was settling into a cryo unit. He returned her hard look while Riddick was sealing him into the unit. Rakka watch the cryo gases take him under into that deep and dark abyss of nothing. She felt shivers trace down her spine at the thought. She herself never liked cryo sleep that much.

Might as well get it over with. "Riddick, which one do I get in?"

"You ain't going into cryo yet." Riddick said standing away from Vaako's cryo. "You and me gotta talk. Hera and the red eyed guy can go ahead and get into cryo. . ."

"No." Hera said. "I will not go into cryo until after the Princess does so."  
"Then ya better stick to the front cuz the things that gonna go on between us is gonna be personal, unless. . . you wanna join in too?"

Rakka dropped her face into her hands, completely embarrassed. Hera blushed, actually blushed and shook her head. "No, no, I am simply doing my duty as the head of her Majesty's royal guard."

"Hera, it'll be alright. Go ahead and go into cryo. I'll be fine with Riddick alone." Rakka said saving Hera. Hera looked as if she was going to protest, but Rakka held up a hand and said, "Hera, I appreciate you being here to protect Jack and me, but Riddick can also protect us and I trust him with my life."

"I was not implying that the Lord Marshal would harm his family, Your Highness. Your safety is my top priority and I take that very seriously."

"I understand." Rakka nodded.

"I will go into cryo now along with Ayamu." Hera said turning back to the waiting cryos that her cousin was already preparing.

"Thank you, Hera." Rakka said bowing her head respectfully to Hera.

"Rakka, let's go." Riddick's large hand wrapped around her upper arm and pulled her along with him to the back of the ship.


	65. Consummation

The back of the ship looked like a combination of a kitchen, dining room, and living room. On one side there was a long couch in front of a large vid. Behind the couch was a small eating table with three chair. On the far side was a freezing unit with lining counters and a few utilities.

"You look like shit." Riddick commented as he headed for the kitchen side of the room.

"I was up since you called me." Rakka replied. 'Like Refuge's early morning?

"Coulda went back to bed." Riddick said as he opened the freezing unit and removed a tall bottle of whiskey.

"I didn't feel like sleeping." Rakka said rubbing her eyes. God, she was tired, but she wasn't sleeping until she heard what he had to tell her about Roland. "Riddick, tell me what you were going to say about Roland. . .before you hung up on me."

'Thirsty?" Riddick held up the bottle in offering.

She shook her head and Riddick shrugged his wide shoulders. He took a long swig from the bottle, his head tilted back and Rakka could see his throat bob slightly as he swallowed.

She waited, fighting the impulse to scream at Riddick to tell her what he knew and what had happened with Roland. She knew that if she insisted on him to telling her anything that he would become very aloof in telling her anything and continue to play this little waiting game with her. Better to wait and let him tell her in his own time.

Riddick finished his drink and said, "Don't expect a welcoming part from Roland."

"What?" Rakka was stunned. "What do you mean?"  
"Lemme finish me story that you interrupted earlier."

Rakka bit her tongue. She didn't want to get into a fight with him and delay anymore time with the news about Roland. "Can we sit down?"

"Fine, jes don't fall asleep while I'm talking. You look like yer gonna drop." Riddick said as he walked around the counter.

"I'll feel better after you tell me what you know about has happened." Rakka sank down onto the couch. "You received a message from Adrian while we were onboard the Titania. And it was while I was sick with the flu?"

"Yeah, I was surprised as hell. Thought he had died on Yari." Riddick said as he moved around the couch.

"Why didn't the Necros kill him? Why didn't they just take Roland? Why did they take Carol and Adrian too?"

"Adrian is pretty unique. There ain't another hacker alive that has the skills and the knowledge that he has. If he wanted too, he could hack his way into any planet's defense computers and set off all the weaponry to destroy the planet."  
Rakka stared at Riddick and said, "You are kidding me."

"No, I ain't. He's that good." Riddick settled himself into a nearby chair that had been sitting against the far wall. He had pulled it and set it near the couch. "Killin' him would be like taking all those skills and flushin' 'em down the toilet. Chronis wanted to use 'im as a spy and track me down. But he didn't know is that Adrian and I planned for when this kinda shit may happened."

He held up a mini-datapad. "I keep this on all the time and Adrian has put enough encryptions and shit on it that nobody, but him kin hack it. And that's what he did when Chronis had him huntin' for me. Told me everythin' that was going on in one recorded transmission."

"And what was going on at that time?" Rakka asked.

"Liked we guessed, the Necros broke into House 22 and took Roland, Adrian, and Carol."

"Why did they take Carol too?"

"One of the Necros sent to help with the kidnapping just happened to snatch Carol too. They. . .are together."

"Together? As in a couple?" Rakka sat stunned. "Wait, did either. . ."

"No, Roland and Carol did not become Necros. They're both fine." Riddick took another sip of whiskey.

"What did they do with them?" Rakka asked. "They didn't hurt them, did they?"

"Naw, but. . .Rakka, Roland is pissed off at us both. He was pissed enough to train with the Necromongers so he could kill me."

Rakka stared at him while this information sunk unwillingly into her head. "You have to be mistaken. There is no way Roland would. . ."

"Rakka, he did. Chronis used him as a distraction for me. While I was fighting Roland. . ."

"You fought Roland?"

"Actually beat Roland, but while I was doing that, Chronis had this fuck try to kill us with a fuckin' missile launcher. It ended well. Roland had only minor injuries and Chronis is under probation and we spent the last several weeks gathering the rest of the traitors."

"That man is under JUST probation. He tried to kill both you and our son! Why would you let him live after that?" Rakka asked feeling herself getting anxious.

"Roland wouldn't let anyone hurt him." Riddick leaned back into the chair as if he too was tired. "Chronis has him completely in his pocket."

"I don't understand." Rakka said feeling so very tired.

"You will when we get there."

"I am so tired." Rakka yawned.

"Best to get some sleep."

"Cryo sleep?"

"No, not yet. I ain't ready for YOU to go into cryo sleep."  
Rakka stared at him and said, "I figured that there was a very good reason why you got a ship with a back like this."

Riddick's lips tugged back into an easy grin and he said, "We can go into cryo sleep in a few days. Jes wanna pick up where we left off is all."  
"Not right now. I need to sleep." Rakka rubbed her eyes.

"Damn straight. Don't want you when yer lookin' all shitty." Riddick commented. "Get up."

Rakka complied, only too tired to question his order. Riddick nudged further from the couch. He removed the cushions from the couch and began to unfold it out into a wide hideaway bed. It had thin sheets and white pillows encased within it.

"This is nice." Rakka said running a hand along the sheets. "When do you think we should get into cryo?"

"Dunno, up to us. I kin think of a lotta shit we can do in a month."

"And none of it is knitting or playing cards." Rakka answered and she stood straight. "Would you go check on Jack for me?"

"Yeah." Thick fingers ran down her back and she swore she could feel their heat through the sweater.

She listened to the sounds of his boots on the metallic floor and the hiss as the door opened and closed behind her. She kicked off her shoes and undid her pants. She sat on the edge of the bed and kicked them off.

She slipped between the sheets, curled onto her side, and closed her eyes. Before her mind left for the fog of sleep, she heard the hiss of the door opening and the clangs of Riddick's boots. The lights dimmed overhead.

She listened to his movements with her blue-violet drooping. Then bed shifted as heavy weight was settled beside her. She rolled onto her other side and smiled at a shirtless Riddick lying beside her.

"Riddick, something else we should do. . .or talk about after I see Roland. And that is to see where we're going to live with the kids, where they're going to go to school, and all that stuff. Have you thought about any of those things?"

"A little. Been busy takin' care of shit with the Necros." Riddick ran a hand down her side.

"Do you think it'll happen again, the mutiny?" She asked touching his hand on her hip.

"Hell yeah, it'll happen again. Chronis is still alive, though I relieved him of his position. That fucker may be an old fart, but he's a smooth talker when he's get goin'."

"He must be if Roland is so willing to protect a man that just used him." Rakka shivered. "Is Roland safe right now?"

"Yeah, he's with Adrian on Refu. In a small house, but he wouldn't go to the nearby school that I registered him and Carol for so he wouldn't loose anymore time at school."

"What?" Rakka sat up in shock. "Then he's lost enough months in school to have to repeat eighth grade! Did you tell him that?"

"I didn't know, but Adrian did and told him so." Riddick turned his head away and stared up at the ceiling.

Rakka stared at him and said, "You are keeping something from me." Riddick continued to stare up at the ceiling as if she said nothing. She leaned on one shoulder and said, "Riddick, is there is something I should know?"

He continued to stare upwards, his silvery orbs studying the metal. Rakka waited, but he said nothing. "Riddick, listen to me, I need to know. I don't have your beautiful silver eyes that see everything. I just have these blue-violet ones that can't see in the dark like yours. Don't send me in to speak with my son and I get some nasty surprise that throws me off."

Riddick turned his head to face her and said, "Roland wants to stay with the Necros and continue training with them. Rakka, he's thinking about actually becoming one."

Rakka let this new and profound information washed over her. She couldn't think of anything feasible to say, but her lips parted slightly and she licked her lips. "He. . .what did you. . ."

"I told 'im to wait till after he talked to you about it." Riddick replied. "And I went ahead and told the Purifier not to do anythin' with 'im till I get back."

"You should have went ahead and told Roland hell no." Rakka muttered.

"Rakka, Roland is a fifteen year old kid now. I was one too a long time ago. If I had told 'im straight out no way, then he would have walked through Hell bare foot to become a Necro."

Rakka knew he was right and laid her head back down. "You're right. I hope he'll wise up by the time we get there."

"A lotta shit happens in one month." Riddick agreed.

"Thank you for telling me." Rakka said closing her eyes.

"Baby, you can thank me by lettin' me fuck you all three ways." Riddick replied. She felt something soft and wet touch her cheek. "I'm jes curious ta see how much of a tight ass you are."

* * *

She didn't know how long she slept. It could have been for a day or a short hour. Who could tell time without a clock or the sun or moon to help determine the part of day when you were drifting through space?

She woke up and yet again, Riddick wasn't where he was when she fell asleep. She sat up and saw him in the kitchen area.

"Morning." She moaned from sleepiness. "Or is it morning?"

"Dependin' on which planet's time you wanna go by. Back at Refuge it is the middle of the night on the mansion's clocks and on Refu it's noon."

"So Roland should be eating lunch by now." Rakka murmured. Think of food, she realized she was starving. "Is there anything to eat?"

"Got some fruit back here. Know ya like eatin' 'em for breakfast." Riddick replied.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Rakka rolled to the edge of the bed and got groggily to her feet. "Which way is the bathroom?"

Riddick pointed to a door between the living room area and the kitchen area. Rakka headed for it and before entering said, "Be out in a minute."

The bathroom was quite small. A small toilet and a sink stood beside and less than three feet away was the narrow shower After she got through using the toilet, she looked at herself in the mirror.

She looked a lot better than she did yesterday and she felt better too. Yet she had morning hair and no doubt morning breath too. Riddick had really planned on them being alone because inside the mirror's cabinet was a brush and a couple of toothbrushes. One was wet as if it had been recently, but the other was dry and still in its packaging.

She brushed out her hair and brushed her teeth. She even washed her face and dried it on a soft towel hanging nearby.

She stepped out of the bathroom feeling refresh and better. Riddick had moved from the kitchen area to the living room's couch. He looked over his shoulder at her and said, "That longer than a minute."

"Sorry, had to do a bit more than I thought in there." She apologized as she headed for the kitchen.

She had a light breakfast at the counter and watched the vid over Riddick's head across the room. Since the ship could only receive vid signals from nearby planets, they had the choice between several sports channels from a planet called Serph or news from a colony station Argis 21. Surprisingly to her, Riddick chose the sports channels instead of his usual news.

She pretty soon got bored with it. She was never really into sports that much. She finished her meal and cleaned the dishes she had used. As she put them away, she sensed Riddick getting up from the couch and approaching her. She turned around and faced him. She felt her blood grow hot in her veins

She couldn't remember who touched who first. Before she knew it, her mouth was shoved brutally into his with his tongue lashing hers. She was standing on tiptoe to reach him. Thick arms were around her and she was pressed against a much larger and harder body than her own.

"Riddick, I missed so much." She whispered against his mouth.

"Yeah." He replied into her mouth.

He took her by the wrist and gently pulling her with him toward the hide away bed. "Remember what I said?"

"What?" She asked through the fog of lust.

"How I'm gonna fuck ya all three ways." Riddick replied as they got to the bed.

Riddick had made it while she was in the bathroom and on the sheets was a bottle of sexual lube. "Are you that determine to fucking me in the ass?"

Riddick had slipped his hands under her sweater and said, "Bitch, every fuckin' inch of you is mine." His hard hands slid up her ribs toward her breasts.

"God." She moaned as rough hands cupped her breasts. She leaned her head back and stared up into his face. This man had developed a powerful hold over her soul and her body over the years.

The sweater was lifted over her head and off her arms, and then all she was wearing was a pair of white panties. Seconds later, they were down at her ankles and she was stepping out of them as she crawled onto the bed. Riddick followed after her.

A strong hand on her back gently pressed her down onto the mattress. She laid her cheek on the cool sheet as the large hand slid down her spine to her buttocks. The thick fingers traced the line between her buttocks, likely prodding the opening there.

"Yer gonna be a tight fuck here." Riddick huskily whispered.

"Until now it's been exit only." Rakka giggles into the sheet.

She heard the zip of his pants being undone and she pushed herself up and looked over her shoulder. He was indeed undoing his pants, his eyes on her. He was getting huge by the second and Rakka felt that she should help that along.

She twisted and turned her body around to him. As if reading her mind, Riddick scooted back to give her more room, he even got off the bed and stood straight.

She held it gently with one hand and then ran her tongue over the head. She could sense Riddick shuddering as she slipped her tongue along the underbelly of his cock. Large hands touched her hair and curled around her head.

Her head was titled, the head against her lips. She stared up into his face while he stared down into hers. His eyes were hidden behind his goggles and she wished that she could see them as she slowly eased his member into her mouth.

She fumbled with the head using her lips and tongue. While her mouth pleasured him, her eyes trailed over his body. God, he was beautiful. He may be a fucking asshole 85 percent of the time, but his body looked like it was crafted from marble.

She leaned away from Riddick's erection and sat up onto her knees. "Take off your shirt."

A miracle happened. Riddick obediently removed his shirt and tossed it to the floor to join her discarded garments. With both hands she traced the length of his body, her fingers delving along the dips and curves of his sculpted muscles. Even along the various scars that had accumulated over the long years of his life.

"Riddick, you have no idea," she whispered as she flicked a thumb over the nub of his nipple. "of how beautiful you are."

Riddick licked his upper lip. By now, his erection was at it's full length and it prodded her belly as it had developed a mind of its own and was seeking entry into her. She gave his chest a long and lingering kiss before she returned her attention to his erection.

She only had to lower her upper body slightly to take the head of his member into her mouth. She bobbed her head slightly, letting her tongue probe the eye of his one eyed snake.

She had to shift backward slightly for her to bob down his length further. She supported her upper weight on her hands in a sort of push up style. Riddick's hands guided her head, not in a completely controlling matter, yet. He always grabbed her by the hair and controlled her movements whenever he came close.

She swallowed the droplets of pre-cum after swirling her tongue about the head. She fluttered her tongue along his underbelly as she bobbed downward and gave the head a suck as she lifted upward. She kept her mouth wide open so as not to scrap her teeth against him. He didn't mind a little teeth, but she still didn't want to hurt him by accident. It was hard not to scrape her teeth against him, he was more than a mouthful in her mouth.

It was ages ago when back in a dark cell that he taught her how to please him orally. She remembered listening to his gravel voice giving her explicit instructions while she had him in her mouth. He stopped saying she gave bad blowjobs after those lessons in the darkness. She never forgot them.

It was funny to her that she remembered these lessons by heart when she has so much remember the rules of algebra. What was even funnier was that she was pondering this with a face full of cock.

Riddick's breathing was quickening and any second, yep, his hands were on her head, not yet controlling, but they were there all the same. She quickened her pace and prepared herself for when he would cum inside her mouth. She hated it when she choked on it.

Riddick's hands tightened on her hair signaling that she should relax her neck and take a quick breath of air. She kept her mouth opened and let Riddick take complete control. Her head was bounced up and down his shaft hard and deep. The head would touch the back of her throat making her gag slightly. She had learned to control her gag reflex so that it was still there, but didn't make her feel as if she was choking on him. She closed her eyes and listened to him groan above her.

She waited for him to spurt his seed down her throat, instead he did something else. He practically ripped her head away from his throbbing erection. By the hair he twisted her body around to where she was sitting with her legs hanging off the bed and her body leaning backwards. Her head was forced back by the hair, his cock inches from her face, his other hand pumping roughly in a blurring motion.

She knew what was coming and she shut her eyes tight. She heard the wet pop and Riddick's ultimate groan, then warm, sticky, and wet substance splattered her face. The most hit the bridge of her nose and slowly rolled down her cheeks. A little had hit her eyelid and she had to wipe it away with one finger in order to open her eye without fear of it getting into it.

The tip touched her lips and she parted them to suck the last few droplets of cum from the head. He released her hair and she leaned forward, her lower back and neck somewhat sore. A droplet of cum roll down to the tip of her nose and she lifted a hand to wipe it away.

"Leave it." Riddick muttered catching her hand.

"It's going to smear on the sheets." Rakka replied lowering her hand.

"Honey, a lot is gonna end up on these sheets." Riddick replied shoving his pants down his thighs.

She scooted back and watched him bare it all. He was as naked as she was except for his goggles which hid his eyes. His once grand erections hung limp and wet between his legs, but she knew that pretty soon that it could increase back into its magnificent size.

"Get on your stomach." Riddick ordered as he moved sleekly toward her.

Rakka obeyed; stretching her body out on the sheets. Riddick scooted forward and reached over her for the pillows. He took each one and shoved them neatly under Rakka's pelvis so that her ass was upward with her having to support herself on her knees. It was a surprising comfortable position, especially when Riddick ran his hands up and down her back.

It was a light massage that at first sent shivers down her back, but it soon made her body feel limp and relaxed. His hands would start from her shoulders down her spine and curve over her buttocks several times. His thumbs lightly pressed into her anus and Rakka tensed. Oh, so now he wanted anal sex next.

"Relax." He whispered, but it sounded more as an order than as a comfort.

"I can't." She said trying to push herself up.

"Relax." He put pressure on her lower back to keep her in place. "It won't hurt if you jes relax."

She took a very deep breath and slowly let it out. "I know you like to get rough, but please be gentle with this."

She received a firm pat, almost a slap, on her right buttock. She didn't know whether Riddick was confirming that he was going to be gentle or telling her that he would do whatever he would wish. Or maybe it was a small punishment for resisting?

Riddick gently stroke the opening with an index finger. Rakka felt a trickle, just a small trickle, of pleasure. Her muscles instantly tightened.

Riddick picked up the forgotten bottle of lube and squeeze some onto his finger. The lube he selected was clear and thick. He stroked the opening against with the lubed up finger.

A soft sound emitted from her throat. This felt a little bit better. She closed her eyes and mentally relaxed her mind and body. She. . .she trusted Riddick, though he could get a bit rough and bruise her, she knew he wouldn't do anything that would cause harm.

Riddick smeared the lube around the opening around the opening and very gently pressed into the resisting opening. Rakka made a dull protesting whimper in her throat and he stopped. He squeezed a quarter-size onto his fingers and lubed up her asshole more.

This went on for the next ten minutes; him preparing her for anal penetration. He slipped a finger into her without her resisting or protesting. He occasionally stroked her clitoris to keep her aroused; sometimes he used her own lubrication to keep his fingers well lubed.

She felt Riddick shifting behind her. He had gotten erect during lubing her up anus and it was prodding her thighs and then her buttocks. Rakka tensed and she a large hand touched her back.

"Relax."

She swallowed and listened to the wet sounds of Riddick lubrication his member. God, she hoped he uses the whole bottle on his large shaft.

Then she felt the head at her opening. He pressed in and she heard him tell her, "Push as if yer takin' a shit. It'll be easier entry."

She supported weight on her elbows and did as he asked. He pressed in and then, pop, the head was in and as her muscles relaxed around him, he slid in further. It was as if her body was easily accepting him. She was surprised at how easy it was, it was almost without any pain at all.

However, there was discomfort for Riddick. She was tight and small for his large erection. She was squeezing him nearly to the point of pain, but it felt so fucking good. He pushed forward, sliding further into her, it was easy because she was loosen from his fingering and he was well greased.

When he slid forward, she tightened, which emitted yelps of pain from both of them.

"Ahh!"

"DAMMIT!"

His hands at her hips tightened, his fingers digging into her skin, bruising her. Her body tensed and he gritted his teeth. He slipped a hand beneath her pelvis and began stroking her clitoris.

"Jes relax, Rakka, jes relax for me." Riddick whispered to her.

She took deep breaths, closed her eyes, and enjoyed the sensation of Riddick stroking her. Then her muscles relaxed around him and she could tell that he was breathing more easily.

"I'm sorry." She said into the sheet.

"Naw, my fault." Riddick regard shifting slightly behind her. "Shoulda waited for ya ta get use to it." He pushed two fingers into her vagina, continuing to pleasure her and keep her relax and calm.

She sighed, the distress was over, and it felt good. So much better than she had imagined anal sex to be.

A few minutes later, he began to pull out and back in. She kept her muscles relaxed for him while he finally began his wanted fucking.

He started start very slowly, but never fully leaving her rectum as he would have with her vagina. She moaned, it felt strangely good. At first, it was very awkward that each time he pulled back, it felt like she was taking a shit, but that soon went away as her mind and ass for use to it. He was touching nerve ending and pleasure spots she never knew she had. His stroking her clitoris wasn't bad either.

"Feels good." Rakka breathed.

Riddick hands slid up her sides and he quickened his pace. "Wanna get on yer back?"

"mmm?"

Riddick withdrew and scooted back. Rakka pushed herself up on her arms and looked over her shoulder at him. He was sweating, his bronzed body gleamed in the light and Rakka wanted to taste that sweat.

"Get on yer back." Riddick ordered.

Rakka didn't feel like moving. Her muscles felt loose like a stretched out rubber band. She got onto her back leaning against the pillows.

"Go back further." Riddick said putting his hands on her ribs and encouraging her to scoot backwards. She fell back over the pillows, shoulders flat on the sheets and her pelvis was held upwards on the pillows.

Riddick took up the bottle of lube again and apply a fresh amount on his throbbing erection. Rakka watched while she rubbed her clitoris. Riddick tossed the bottle aside on the sheets and shifted forward between her legs.

He pulled her closer to his by her thighs. "Put yer feet on my shoulders and let me back get back in yer ass. Then ya kin play with yerself as much as ya want."

She nodded and concentrated on controlling her muscles to give Riddick an easier time penetrating. He entered her smoothly and without problem. He moved smoothly and easily inside her thanks to the new application of lube.

She stared up at Riddick's face. His lips were parted and she could see that his teeth were gritted with pleasure and concentration. She smiled at him and closed her eyes at sweet sensation of him touching her nether regions.

She placed a hand at her crotch and the other at her breast. She teases her clit with two fingers while squeezing her breast. She heard Riddick groaned, the sight of her touching herself must have turned him on. His hands tightened on her legs where he held her in place.

She inserted a finger into her vagina and it unnerved her that she could feel the tightness of Riddick's moving cock just a layer of flesh away from her digit. She pumped her finger in and out, matching Riddick's rhythm.

Her orgasm rocked her. It was powerful and seemed to roll from her source of her being. Her body convulsed and Riddick's mouth opened as he was nearing his climax. She came, it was like a small thunderbolt inside her head as she spurted the white, creamy liquid from her body. It drizzled down her red slit to mingle with lube around Riddick's still pumping cock.

Riddick roughly grasped her thighs and yanked her close to him hard, nearly bending her knees back to her shoulders. Then she felt liquidity warmth burst inside her rectum. Riddick sighed low and heavily while he pulled out of her body. She could feel droplets of his seed oozing from her anus. Oh God, the next time she took a shit, she's going to be shitting cum.

Then a horrifying thought occurred to her. What if some shit got on Riddick's dick while he was fucking her? God in Heaven, she would NEVER be able to look him in the face again. She sat up and took a quick peek at his now limp penis. It was covered in slick lube and his seed, but no feces. She leaned back and rolled off the pillows.

She rubbed her face, she was tired again and felt like going back to sleep, but first a trip to the bathroom


	66. Parentage

Rakka took a long shower. She asked Riddick how long she should shower in order to preserve water, but he told her to take a long shower if she wanted. The ship held enough water to last three weeks before they needed to refill at the next station. Since they were going into cryo for a month and get to their destination by the time they wake up.

She used the toilet and cleaned away the cum that leaked from her asshole. She rinsed off the sweat off her body and washed away the cum that had dried on her face.

Riddick took over the shower when she was through and she sat in front of the vid wrapped in a towel watching a static channel from some planet called Dana. She expected to be sore, but she wasn't at all. It was as if Riddick had never had his dick up her ass at all.

She was felt somewhat refresh after the shower, but she was tired all the same. It seemed to her that she got tired so easily now a days.

Riddick was done with the bathroom in five minutes. She guessed one of the pros of choosing to be bald was that you had less to fuss over when you bathed. He was wearing his favorite black pants, but he chose to go without shirt or boots this time. With his body build and bronzed skin he looked as if he belonged on the front cover of an old romance novel.

Rakka held out a hand toward him. She wanted to touch him, just put her hands on him to feel that warm skin and the dampness clinging to it.

Riddick breezed by and said, "I ain't your fuckin' dog to call to your side, bitch."

She sat stunned for a minute and sat up on the couch. She began to sputter "Wha. . .I. . .I can't believe. . .I just wanted to touch you, dammit!"

Riddick headed to the kitchen area as she stood up angrily. She continued to yell, "If I wanted to call a dog, I would be patting my leg and saying, 'here boy, here Riddick'. You just have to start shit, don't you!"

It took her a few seconds to realize that there was a grin cracked across Riddick's lips. His white, straight teeth gleamed at her as he opened the fridge and bend into the freezing unit to withdraw a bottle of vodka.

Rakka didn't know whether to feel angrier or relieved. "Dammit! Why do you have to start a fight like that?"

Riddick took a long sip of vodka before replying, "Did you know you grind your teeth when you're angry? Sexy."

"Oooh, you wouldn't think it was sexy if I grinded my teeth with your dick in my mouth." Rakka retorted.

"I don't mind teeth." Riddick replied wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

Rakka grinned showing off her teeth. Riddick approached her with the bottle in hand. Rakka leaned against the back of the couch with her arms crossed over her chest. When he drew close, he raised a hand and rough fingers brushed down her cheek to the corner of her lips. It drew across her upper lip and she shivered as waves of ice washed over her spine.

The thick finger brushed passed her lips and bumped her teeth. She opened her jaws and it slide across her tongue toward the back of her throat. It drew back before it made her gag reflexively. She raised her hands and touched his wrist. She began to bob her head on his finger as if she was giving it fellatio.

Riddick's withdrew his hand from her face and held up the bottle of vodka to her mouth. She hesitated; she had never drunk vodka before. She accepted the bottle with both hands. It felt cool and damp to her palms. She brought it closer to her mouth and then she gasped.

Riddick had tugged away the towel and it pooled at their ankles. Her breath left her as she felt the predatory leer of Riddick's eyes on her body. He stepped closer to her, his heat seemed to sink into her skin from his closeness. She felt his breath on her face and she shuddered.

A hard hand felt her left breast and he spoke to her, ""Drink up, baby, I like it when you swallow every drop I give ya." He gave the nipple a small pull and twist.

She would have stepped back if her back wasn't already pressing against the couch. Riddick ran his hands over her breasts, from her ribs up to her shoulders. Riddick leaned forward, bending his knees and lowering his upper body. His arms slid around her shoulders and she was lifted upward, causing her to stand on her tiptoes.

He nipped her neck and drew his tongue along her skin to her shoulder. She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against his stubbly head. The stiff fold of his ear felt cool against her jaw. He inhaled and exhaled against her skin, smelling her scent.

She nearly dropped the bottle. She tightened her hold on it and Riddick slid downwards. She stood back on her heels and Riddick was on his knees. He hugged her thighs close to him and his face buried into her stomach. She felt his teeth tugged at the edge of her navel.

She was clutching the vodka bottle so tightly in her hands, she feared that she would break it. Riddick leaned back slightly and began to roughly tapping her thighs, wanting her to spread her legs. She obeyed and Riddick, one smooth motion, pushed both his hands and arms through between them and lifted upward to grasp the back of the couch.

She nearly dropped the bottle as she was lifted upwards. Her shoulders were pressed painfully against the back of the couch between his hands while her legs were curled over his upper arms. Her legs were spread wide and her vagina was close to his face.

Riddick leaned his head forward and pushed his tongue between her outer folds and prodded her clit. Rakka shifted her weight on his arms. She hated the position, but she couldn't ignore the sweet sensations her clitoris was experiencing. Riddick was prodding her opening with his tongue and she squirmed.

She knew Riddick was strong and that she didn't weight very much, but she had no idea how he could hold her up with just arms so easily. Her legs curled over his large shoulders while her toes curled when she felt teeth tug at her inner folds. She wanted to put the bottle down, but it didn't have a cap on. Why the hell did Riddick make her hold it anyway? And why hadn't he given her a chance to set it down?

Then it clicked in place and she had to smile. She held the bottle over her stomach and poured a few experimental drops on her belly. The icy cold liquid made her tense. The rolled down her skin and trickle down into her crotch being molested by Riddick's mouth. His tongue lapped the droplets in seconds. She leaned her head back, the wonderful sensation of hot and cold mingling at her most sensitive area thrilled her.

She poured a steady stream down her lower stomach and it ran downward to her crotch and Riddick's waiting tongue and lips. Steadily, over time, a small puddle was forming between his knees where he would sometimes miss a drop or two of the liquid and it would drip to the floor.

Rakka kept waiting for his arms to tire and he would set her down off them. He kept her up there, letting her pour vodka on her crotch for him to lap up against her sensitive flesh. By the time the bottle was less than half full, he set her down, not because his arms were tired, but he was ready to fuck her.

Her body was lowered to the floor, her back against the couch. Riddick scooted backwards, pulling her back with him by the legs. Her bottom lay in the cool pool of vodka, with her legs spread wide by Riddick's firm hands. The bottle was set the side while she watched Riddick undo his pants.

His mouth and chin gleaned with wetness from the vodka and her natural juices. His pants were peeled back and his erection sprang free and proud. She laid flat on her face and her pelvis was adjusted for his entry.

He leaned forward, his dick head prodding the area around her slit. He put a hand palm flat on the couch above her head and supported his weight there. He used one hand to guide the end of his cock to her vaginal hole. Then he entered her hard and almost painfully.

Rakka's head swam as it did so each time he entered her body. He began his long and hard strokes into her. The floor was a bit uncomfortable especially since there wasn't a blanket for her lay on.

He growled above her and her gasps and small breathless cries mingled with them. Then she felt that sweet and exquisite pinch inside and she came. She felt it spew for two or three seconds from her body and then drizzle in a small warm stream around Riddick's pumping penis and toward her ass crack.

Riddick's soon followed hers and his cum were hot and felt good as it exploded inside her. He groaned low in his throat that sounded more like a satisfied growl as he pulled out of her. Rakka lay on the floor, her back aching slightly.

Riddick got to his feet, zipping up his pants. Rakka achingly got to her feet and leaned against the couch. "Damn, I need another shower."

She took another shower, but this time it was a quick one. She wanted to talk to Riddick about something. A subject that held great fear for her, but it was something she was going to have to face. She wasn't going to be on her way to see Roland forever and after she saw Roland, then what? Where do they go? What do they do?

She took her clothes with her into the bathroom and dressed after she thoroughly towel dried her body. She figured that if she had clothes on Riddick wouldn't be so easily distracted from what she had to say. She chose what she had worn the day before. A long sleeve sweater with pants, but she chose to be bare foot, being not in the mood to fiddle with the shoe laces and so forth.

Riddick had sat on the couch when she entered the bathroom for the second time and he was still there when she exited it. She could have sworn she saw a look of disappointment on his face when he saw that she was fully clothed.

"Riddick, we have to talk." She said as she approached the couch.

"Guess the fun's over." Riddick leaned his head back against the head of the couch.

"Well, it doesn't have to be." Rakka said quickly. "I just mean that we need to be serious about something for right now."

Riddick watch her take her seat beside him and said, "What's chewin' on yer ass?"

"You know. About what we're going to do with the kids and our. . .'careers'." She couldn't think of a better word.

The corner of Riddick's lips tilted upward at the word. "Okay, what do ya have in mind?"

"I have no clue." Rakka admitted. "I just thought we could. . .give each other a few ideas." Riddick looked at her as if she was going something very amusing for him. It irritated her, but she knew not to give him give him any fuel. "I would like to have a few guidelines, but I'm sure Roland's curious as to what we're going to do. And we have to keep Carol in mind too. She's all alone now and we CANNOT leave her to fend for herself. She's been Roland's best friend since they were toddlers."

"Yeah." Riddick agreed. "She's been goin' to the school I signed her up for."

"She's a very good girl, Riddick. I think having her around may help Roland a great deal. She'll bring some normality into his life, maybe even set good example for him."

Riddick didn't respond, but stared at her.

"What really is getting to me is where are we going live?" Rakka said thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure my grandmother would be thrilled to have us live at the mansion on Refuge, but I wouldn't feel comfortable. We would have to be around the Court and. . .I don't think I could be around them without loosing my mind. Especially that Noa bitch. I don't want her around my children if I can help it."

"What the hell is this we shit?" Riddick asked still staring at her.

"We. Us. You, me, Roland, and Jack." Rakka looked at him puzzled. "And maybe Carol."

"Rakka, I ain't going to be living with you guys." Riddick said. "I gotta stay with Necros."

Rakka stared at him with blank eyes, not sure that she heard him correctly. "What?"

Riddick leaned against the couch as if preparing for an assault. "Rakka, I can't leave the Necromongers ever again. Look at what happened when I left 'em for several months. They toasted a planet and nearly ghosted me and Roland. When I was around 'em, they didn't even DARE to so much as back talk me. I got to stay on the Basilica so I kin keep 'em in line. The only thing standing between this fuckin' universe and hell is me."

Rakka swallowed a growing lump in her throat. "So we'll never see you again?"

"No, I ain't sayin' that. What I'm saying that I jes won't be around. We'll talk. There's the fuckin' com and I'll visit if I'm in the same System."

Rakka felt as if all the air around her and in her lungs had been sucked away. She. . .her mind clashed. She. . .she always knew in the back of her mind, her brain, her consciousness that Riddick would have to leave one day. Yet. . .in her deepest corner of her imagination and hope was that Riddick would stay by her side, actually stay and tough it out with her. That some way they could work it all out become a family. . .God, what was thinking? She said it herself. That she would never expect to have a normal family if she married Riddick.

She inhaled and exhaled slowly to keep from crying. Why is she on the verge of tears? No, she would not cry and make Riddick mad.

"If. . .did you know about this when you asked me to marry you?" She asked hoping to God in Heaven that she sounded normal or just curious.

Riddick's reaction was hidden behind his goggles. "Yeah. That's why I said we should set up legalities so that way we can have a clean divorce."

"Then. . .I don't understand." Rakka said looking at her hands. "You married me just so you can divorce me."

"I married you so the fuckers at the mansion would leave you the hell alone."

The tears came and she gagged to keep from giving off a choked sob. She raised both hands to wipe at her eyes and sniffled.

"Why the fuck are you cryin' for?" Riddick demanded leaning forward and glaring at her.

"Nothing, Riddick, nothing at all." Rakka snapped standing. Everything was wrong. Riddick didn't care about her; he didn't love her at all. He just wanted to keep his possessions his. She knew it at the back of her mind. She knew he didn't love her, but, dammit, to have to so brazenly thrown back into her face hurt. It hurt a lot.

She didn't know how, but she somehow managed to get to the kitchen area despite the pain. She had no idea that emotional pain could hurt so physically. She didn't understand any of this shit. Riddick had hurt her before, but this was worse. He had. . .he had LED her to believe that he cared somehow.

Riddick was standing behind her angry. "Bitch, you remember what we fuckin' talked about. I said that it wouldn't last. . ."

"Because of the fights we have. . .yes, I remember." Rakka snapped as she fetched a glass from a case that protected the glasses from shattering incase of turbulence or crashes. She filled it half full with water from the sink and took a long sip. The water helped a little, but what would really hit the spot. She headed for the freezing unit.

Riddick must have read her mind because he swore loudly and said, "Rakka, don't start being some booze queen bitch that can't put down a bottle to save 'er life."

"Jesus, I am not going to become an alcoholic." Rakka shouted back as she wretch the unit's door open so fast that it banged on the counter. She withdrew a bottle that she knew for sure was whiskey. She never had it before; usually she sipped cheap wine with the families of House 22 whenever there was something to celebrate.

If there was one thing Alia LOVED to do was celebrate. Anything from the holidays, a new jobs, to whenever a baby said his first words, took his first step, and so forth. Sarabi always supplied the wine, not the most expensive, but the cheap brand that could easily be bought in any grocery.

However, on the colony, alcoholic drinks were hard to come by. The food stores mostly supplied healthy foods and anything that promoted good health. They wouldn't want alcoholic beverages to deter the population from creating a habitable planet for a growing population.

But it was gone. Yari, House 22, Alia, Sarabi, the day care, the town, everything was gone, nothing but cinders from the descriptions she had been given. Never again would Alia plan for a school event, never again would Sarabi brag about her children's good grades, never again would Rakka watch the kids finger paint or build unsteady cities with blocks, nor would she ever sleep in her apartment, which had been her from for a decade and a half again.

It felt raw as if she had just received the news now. She thought the loss had gotten easier. After Riddick left, she cried now that she had time to reflect on her life on Yari. And what hurt the most was that it was inadvertently because of her and Riddick. The Necros would never have destroyed Yari if it wasn't for the relationship between them. If she had never been pregnant with Jack, Riddick wouldn't have came and leave the Necros to their own devices. And she would never have been thrown in the role of a princess so horribly. She would have remained blissfully unaware and ignorant and she would not be angry with her dead father about it.

"Rakka."

She looked up. She had been standing staring at the glass in her hand for almost three whole minutes in deep thought. She felt as if she had been waken up from a deep sleep as she stared at him.

"I feel lost." Rakka said putting the whiskey bottle back. It was if she didn't have a body, but a floating mind or soul in a space of nothing. She couldn't feeling anything or think anything, but she knew she wanted to get away. Away from Riddick, away from the situations with Roland, Necromongers, Hitomians, being a Princess, the loss of Yari and so much more. There was only one place of solitude that she could go to at this time. "I want to go into cryo right now."

"Yer jes gonna wake back up into the same problem." Riddick replied.

"Well, at least I'll be able to get some rest." She rubbed her face suddenly so very tired. She got so tired easily now. She couldn't decide whether it was from nerves or her age.

Riddick's eyes stayed on her. She looked as if she had aged ten years and was no younger the strong beautiful woman he had sex with twenty minutes ago. For the first time, he began to see her age.

* * *

Thankfully, cryo sleep was uneventful and there were no dreams, strange visions, or a Furyan woman walking amongst grave markers for either of them. The trip went smoothly and in weeks time they arrived at Refu.

Everyone was brought out of deep sleep smoothly except for Rakka. As she had before, she had problems getting awake and staying awake. Hera wanted to call for a medical team to be ready to receive her when they landed, but Riddick and Ayamu downplayed it.

"It's alright, cousin. Look, I've been in cryo enough to see lots of people like Rakka who have problems waking up. Just make her walk around and that'll help."

"I don't know. Is this really normal?"

"Yes, it is. It just means that she'll never be qualified to pilot her own ship across space lanes and across systems, but who needs to be a pilot anyway." This last part had been meant to be a joke to lighten the mood.

Everyone was on edge, especially when the Hitomians saw the Basilica orbiting the planet. Rera, Hera, and Ayamu stared, with wide colorful eyes, at the behemoth that destroyed their home planet.

"Shit." Ayamu muttered under his breath. "It's a hell of a lot bigger than I imagined."

"It looks so much a like a person." Rera said breathlessly.

"What did the people of Refu have to say?" Hera asked Riddick turning her chestnut eyes to him. "They must have been quite alarmed when this. . .thing started heading toward their planet."

"They freaked." Riddick replied smartly. "They like got their army on the sidelines waiting for when I set loose the soldiers."

Vaako, during this time, had been quietly steering the ship and signaling their landing coordinates to the ship's main computer. Rakka was sitting in an empty chair trying to fight off sleep.

_Wake up, just wake up. You have to wide awake to deal with Roland._

"Princess, Princess, Riddick is going to wake up Jack." She didn't know who said it, but it was the magic words she needed to win the fight against the fog of sleep that kept pulling at her.

She managed to stand without swaying which was a very good sign. Jack was in the same position inside the cryo as she last saw him. She still found it hard to believe that one month has passed by since she laid him inside the bowl shape dip. Riddick was checking information on Jack's health and typed a few keys on the side. There was a soft hiss as air was released from the cryo. Seconds later, Jack's small limbs began to move slowly and she heard him whimper in complaint whenever she had to wake him up by moving him.

Rakka managed to make her way to her baby's cryo by leaning against the side of the hull. Rera walked very close beside her incase she fell. It seemed that Rera wanted to make up for her scene about getting into cryo. Rakka reminded herself to be sure to give Rera a raise, a large bonus, or whatever she could do to make up for being inconsiderate for her feelings about dropping everything and coming with her to Refu all of a sudden.

Jack became wide away by the time she got to the side of the cryo. He whimpered and looked around confused and irritated. Rakka reached out her hands to take him, but Riddick brushed them aside. "Let Rera carry 'im. You'll drop 'im."

Rakka wanted to hiss that she would not drop her own baby, but she knew he was right. She was almost too groggy to carry herself around, much less a baby.

Rera dutifully lifted Jack into her arms and held him close to her chest. Jack began to settle as he was held against Rera's familiar chest. Rakka leaned over to touch Jack's small hand and she kissed him on the cheek. "Morning, baby. We're going to see big brother."

* * *

Refu was definitely in its rain season. It was pouring so badly that if you stepped out for one second, you would be soaked through to the skin. Refu was a planet was that was getting out of its colonization phase and was making progress into become a member of the System's planetary community. It had a healthy military, but it was no match against the Necromonger armada and that was what had the population in the thrall of terror.

It could be seen the way people walked through the rain. They would hurried down the streets through the rain, clinging to children, lovers, pets, groceries, and whatever they held in their possessions as if they were clinging desperately to whatever bravery or sanity they had left.

Rakka had thankfully became fully away and was able to function without and drowsiness. She was finally able to hold Jack who she dressed in a thick coat and pants with tiny booties. She also saw to it that he wore a small hat to keep his head full of downy hair protected from the cool and wet air. Vaako departed from their party to return to the Basilica in a small shuttle.

The rest squeezed into a private hover. Riddick drove, Hera took the front passenger seat, while Rakka sat between Ayamu and Rera in the backseat with Jack cradled on her lap. It was a thirty minute drive because Riddick had to slow down many times due to the pounding rain that obscured the vision through the window.

Ayamu tried to make small talk with the women, but Rakka wasn't much up for talking. She felt as if there was a bird flapping its wings inside her chest. She was going to see Roland after so long; she was finally going to get to hold him in her arms again.

It almost made the knowledge of Riddick leaving her, the impending divorce or annulment, whatever the hell they were going to do when he left. Did this mean that Riddick was going to leave her today?

A tremor of terror shot through her, making her jerk suddenly and disturbed Jack making him whine. She managed to soothe him despite the numbing fear eating her. Had she come to depend on Riddick so much that the thought of being without him terrified her?

It was the familiar fear that she had when she left Red Hades knowing that she would never see Riddick again. She had been terrified about what she would do alone and pregnant without him. Now she would be alone with a baby and a teenage son without him. She didn't know if she could do it again without screaming her lungs out.

She couldn't worry about that now. Right now, she needed to concentrate on Roland. She needed to cure him of this nonsense of studying on with the Necros and becoming one.

When they finally arrived, Rakka stared at the rented house. It was up on large stands incase of flooding, which was understandable with this abusing rain. It was two story and looked like any typical family home. She was surprised and impressed with Riddick, yet she hoped that there was enough room for the group she now had with her.

Ayamu got out first after Riddick parked the hover in the side garage. The door opened before he got to it. Carol came rushing out grinning at Rakka who was carefully arranging her legs to carry Jack out.

"Aunt Rakka! Oh, my god! Is that Jack? How are you? Are you alright? I am so glad to see you! I really missed you! Jack is so cute, he looks just like Roland." The girl sputtered just so happy to see someone from her home planet.

"Carol, Carol, slow down." Rakka said, yet inside she felt like babbling too and tell her the same things and asking the same questions.

They hugged each other, Jack being held slightly to the side so he wouldn't be squished between them. Carol gave Jack her attention and smiled very warmly. "May I hold him?"

"Sure. Both hands." Rakka said cautiously. She shifted the infant to Carol's careful hold. "Is everything alright?"

"It's. . .been fine." Carol said rocking Jack slowly. She wouldn't look at Rakka and she said, "It's been hard for both of us since. . .we found out."

"It had been the same for me too." Rakka admitted.

Both women stood silently morning together for lost families, friends, and home together.

Rakka chose to break the ice by asking, "Where is Roland?"

"Oh, gosh, you must want to see him a lot more than you want to see me." Carol gasped. "He's in his room."

"Didn't he know I was in the garage?" Rakka looked over Carol's head as if Roland would suddenly burst through the door.

Carol didn't answer at first. She kept her eyes on Jack and said, "Yeah, he knew. He's upstairs in his room, the first one on the right down the hall."

Carol said the last part so quickly that Rakka felt that Carol didn't want to talk about Roland anymore. So she introduced Carol to Ayamu, Rera, and Hera and then they went inside right after Hera went inside and checked to make sure that it was safe. Carol looked quizzically at Rakka all the while Hera was inside. Rakka swallowed and something chilling crept over her.

She handed Jack to Rera and looked around. The house definitely looked as if it was built for a large family in mind. The kitchen was warm and smelled of cooked foods. The living room was large and wide with cozy couches and chairs. A hallway separated the two rooms with a staircase leading upwards.

Rakka took Riddick aside into the hallway. He leaned against the wall and stared at her with a bore expression on his face. Rakka couldn't shake the creeping feeling until she knew.

"Riddick, did you tell Roland about. . .anything?"

"Anything about what?"

"About me being a princess and. . .about us being _married_?"

"He knows that I'm the Lord Marshal."

Rakka sucked in hair through her mouth and released it through her nose. "He doesn't know. . .anything?"

"Neither does Carol."

Rakka suddenly felt so weak that she felt as if she could collapse to the floor as is she had the body of a limp rag doll. She felt so much weight bearing down on her that she found it very hard to breath.

"Rakka." Riddick was standing up from the wall and was staring at her face. He was reaching out to touch her and she jerked back.

At first she found it hard to speak, she gagged and then she managed to choke, "How. . .how could you not tell him?"

"Thought it'd be better if he heard it from you." Riddick explained still staring at her hard. "He ain't likin' me too much."

"I. . .oh, God. . .Riddick. . .I can't go up there and. . .tell him. . .everything. I can't dump so much on him at one time."

"Did you expect me to do so?" Riddick asked cocking his head.

"I. . .Jesus, Riddick. . .I. . .what the hell do I say to him?" Rakka asked him desperately and very angrily also. She felt as if Riddick had put a damper on her reunions with Roland. Why did he wait to tell her that Roland knew nothing? "Why didn't you tell me that he knew nothing? Why didn't you say something a month ago when I had plenty of time to think of what I could say to him? Dammit!"

She was so furious that she slapped the wall, hard. The wall accepted the damage with a loud bang that halted the talking from within the living room. She wondered if they knew that they were having a fight in the hallway.

Rakka took a deep breath and then said, "Okay, I'm going up to see him, but don't be surprised if you hear screaming."

Without another word, she turned and headed upstairs. She felt as if she was climbing up a mountain from where there was a hungry monster waiting to devour her. She followed Carol's directions and found herself in front of Roland's bedroom door.

She tentatively knocked on the door. At first, there was no answer, but then an annoyed voice said, "C'mon in."

At first, she thought she had knocked on the wrong door. The voice was different than what she remembered Roland's voice was. She touched the doorknob and let herself in.

The bedroom was small. Enough room for a twin size bed and a desk beside it. The gray walls were empty of any posters, pictures, or decorations, yet the floor was a mess with clothes spread in piles. There were two windows with one between above the bed letting gray gloomy light filter over the figure on it.

At first, she stared at the person sitting on the bed with his back against the backboard. This young man's head was well shaven with only the faintness shading of stubbles on his scalp. His arms were thinner than Riddick's, but muscular as was his chest which could be seen through the loose sleeveless shirt he wore. Rakka couldn't be sure, but it looked like Roland may have grown a few inches as well. There was something about his face that seemed so different, almost made him look unrecognizable, but it was him exactly. The room was dim enough for him to go without goggles and she could see his silver eyes looking at her.

"Roland?" She asked staring at her son who now looked so different.

He gave her a sad smile and said, "Hey, Mom."

That was what broke the ice for her, those two simple words, 'Hey, Mom'. She felt the tears welling in her eyes and she fought not to show them, but they came. "Hey, baby."

Roland smiled and then he became the son she remembered back on Yari. She instantly rushed forward and embraced. He opened his arms in time and held her while she wept into her shoulder.

"Baby, I was so worried about you when I heard. . ."

"Mom, I was okay the whole time. I swear that I was."

"I was so scared."

"Mom, you didn't need to be. . ."

"How can I not be scared when I heard that Yari was destroyed? I thought you were dead."

"Well, I wasn't dead."

"But you could have been killed."

"But I wasn't."

"But you could have been!"

"Mom, please, stop." Roland said in a strong voice that sounded like Riddick's 'stop' tone that it made her release him at once.

She cupped both sides of his face and kissed him wet, long, and hard against his forehead. Roland, instead of snatching his head away from her as he always did whenever she kissed him, stayed still and allowed her to give him a mother's kiss. She released him and sat back on the bed beside him.

"I heard you had been hurt."

"A few cuts and I had a concussion, but I checked out alright." Roland shrugged.

"I wished. . .I wished I could have spoken with you sooner." Rakka said swallowing a large lump in her throat. "I hated the way we fought the last time we were together. Roland, I've been meaning to apologize to for so long for brushing you off when I left."

Roland rolled his head and said, "Mom, you don't have to apologize to me for that. I was being a brat and you had to take care of something that was practically life or death."

"But you still needed me." Rakka said rubbing the tear stains beneath her eyes. "You lost your father and your little brother was missing. . .I should have been a better mother."

"Mom, Mom, you were being the best mother ever." Roland said touching her shoulder. "Jack was missing and you went out to get him back. You had no idea the Necromongers would come."

Rakka looked at him and swallowed. "Roland, baby, tell me what happened that day." It was something that she had been dreading ever since she heard of what happened.

Roland swallowed and looked away from his mother. He stared into nothing before and said, "It was like any other day, Mom. I got back from school and Carol was staying over to study for this test we had. We were upstairs and. . .we heard screaming from downstairs. I told Carol to wait in the apartment and lock the door. I crept to the top of the stairs and. . .there were five Necromonger soldiers standing in the common living room. Of course, they scared the hell out of me. . ." Rakka didn't stop him to correct his language. ". . .especially when I saw Aunt Alia on the floor knocked out cold. They saw me before I could sneak back to the apartment."

Roland swallowed and continued, "They were faster then they looked. They caught me before I could make it halfway to the apartment. I don't remember whether I screamed or what, but Carol must have heard and came out. She jumped on one, it was Samael."

"Who?" Rakka asked.

Roland licked his lips and said, "He's. . .he's Carol's new boyfriend."

"What?" Rakka's blue-violet eyes widen. "Carol is in a relationship with a Necro?"

"Yeah, for about the last couple of months." Roland replied looking at her. "Didn't. . .Riddick. . . tell you about it?"

"No." Rakka looked at her hands and then shook her head and said, "I. . .please continue, what happened next?"

"Not much. Carol was no match for Samael so he threw her off and took her with us to their ship. And that's it."

Rakka shook her head. "No, Roland, that is not it. Riddick told me about how you got hurt and how you. . ."

Roland clenched his hands into fists. "He deserves to die."

"What?" Rakka stared at Roland and said, "Why on earth would you say something like that?"  
"He's been lying to you. Mom, he's a murderer! A killer! He's killed so many people that they don't even have a number of how many he killed." Roland said in a rush. "He's been in and out of slams and he's on the top most wanted list in THREE Systems!"

"Baby, baby, I know. I knew all of this years ago." She caught his shoulders to calm him down.

Roland stared at her, his mouth opened. "You knew. . .you knew all along? For years?"

Rakka nodded. "Yes, I knew all along. But he isn't as bad as they lead you on to believe."

"How is he not bad?" Roland surged to his feet and stood glaring at her.

"I. . .It's hard to explain exactly how he is." Rakka admitted. "But please trust me when it comes to him."

Roland turned away and he looked angry enough to hit something. "I can't believe that. . .you would. . .WITH HIM! MOM!"

"Roland, calm down." Rakka said sternly.

"NO! How can I?" Roland shouted. "When the hell were you going to tell me?"

"I meant to tell you, but that chance just never came what with Jack and you being kidnapped." Roland still looked so helpless and frustrated. Rakka felt that she owed him some sort of explanation and said, "Roland, when I met him was long ago and I was young and also there were circumstances you couldn't believe. Trust me, sometimes when I look at him, I wonder the same thing."

Roland flopped down on the bed again. He didn't say anything, just looked down at the floor in the area between his feet.

Rakka watched him for a second and then said, "Roland, there are a few things I have to tell you."

Roland lifted his head and said, "About Riddick?"

"About both Riddick and me." Rakka said. She touched his shoulder comfortingly and continued, "I found out a something about my father, your grandfather. Something I never knew until someone told me two months ago."

Roland looked up at the seriousness in her voice. "What is it, Mom?"

"Remember that I told you about my parents, your grandparents, and how they had to leave Hitomi because of the Necromongers?" Roland gave her an annoyed look, probably thinking she was going to give him an anti-Necro speech, but she quickly continued, "Your Grandfather was somebody very very important on Hitomi. He never told my mother or me exactly who he was. And right now, I'm sort of angry with him for never telling me."

This gave her Roland's full attention. He stared hard at her and said, "Who was he, Mom?"

Rakka swallowed and said, "He was the Prince."

"The Prince of what?"

"The Prince of the Laotaner Royal Family of Hitomi."

Roland stared at her for almost a full minute and then he said , "You're kidding, right?"

She shook her head and said, "That was what I thought at first, but they have proof. You have a Great Great Grandmother who is the Queen of Hitomi right now."

Roland was still looking at her in disbelief. "Then that would make you. . ."

"A Princess. I've been studying on how to be one for over a month." Rakka offered a small smile. "It's been tough."

Roland still looked amazed. "Are you sure that this isn't a joke?"

"If it is, than it's there are hundreds of people in on it."

"Am I a prince now?" Roland asked.

Rakka's smile disappeared and she shook her head slowly. "No, dear. You are a prince in my book, but the Hitomians says that my heir has to be. . .born between two Hitomians." She lied. She didn't like it at all, but she didn't like telling Roland that he was acceptable in Hitomian terms since he was illegitimate even more.

"Does this mean we're rich?" Roland asked.

"Very." She replied glad to see that he didn't seem upset at not being royalty with her. "We'll be well taken care of that's for sure."  
"Wow." Roland said letting this information sink in. "Wait till I tell Carol."  
"Carol may be living with us." Rakka said. "That is unless she had some relatives somewhere."

"Mom, she has nobody now. She's all alone."

"Then she's going to stick with us." Rakka said putting an arm around her son.

"Then it'll be the four of us?"

"Four?"

"Yeah. You, me, Jack, and Carol."

Rakka swallowed and remembered the other bit of news she had to give Roland. "Baby, there is something else I need to tell you. It's about Riddick and me."

Roland stared at her and she could feel the tension being emitted from him. Better just to do it quick like taking off a band aide. "Riddick and I are married now."

Roland said nothing and Rakka sucked in a deep breath. Then Roland's face screwed up and he surged upwards. "WHAT?"

"Roland, calm down." Rakka stood to comfort him, but he shrugged her hands off him violently.

"You said before you left Yari that you weren't going to get married! I asked you, REMEMBER, I asked you if you were going to marry him and you said NO! You LIED to me!"

"No! No! I didn't lie to you, Roland. It. . .it just happened."

"Getting married DOESN'T just happened! It's something you plan for!" Roland was beside himself with anger. "How could you do this to me?"

"Roland, listen to me. He's. . .he's going to leave me. We're going to annul the marriage."

That froze Roland in his rant and he stared at her shocked. "Why?"

"He has to leave to stay on the Necro ship. He has to stay with them to keep them from killing more planets like they did Yari. So he's going to annul the marriage before he leaves."

"So, what? Being married to you ain't good enough for him?" Roland asked still seething.

"Now what is wrong with you? First you are furious that I married him, now you're angry because he's leaving me."

"When did you get married?"

"Two months ago."

"Right before he came and took back his title as Lord Marshal." Roland remembered. "Why didn't he tell me anything?"

"Because I suppose he thought it would be better if he heard it from me, because he knows that he isn't on your most favorite person list."

"He's on my most hated person list." Roland muttered.

"Roland, don't say that."

"It's true! I hate his guts."

"Roland!" She finally caught his shoulders and held him firmly to look her in the eye. "You are entitled to feel about him in anyway. But I don't want you to say those words in front of me or your father. . ."

"HE IS _NOT _MY FATHER!" Roland nearly screamed. "My FATHER died. I won't call him Dad no matter what you say or do!"

"Then don't! Rakka snapped getting impatient. She grasped Roland's chin and made him look into her face. "You don't have to love him, like him, or call him father, but you WILL respect him. You will NOT act ugly to him or be disrespectful to him. You WILL act decent to him as you would with ANY adult, especially in front of Jack. You may call him Sir or Riddick and no one will push you into calling him father." Rakka swallowed and then took a softer tone, "Roland, baby, I love you. You and Jack are the most important guys in my life and you and your brother will ALWAYS, ALWAYS come first. And I am certain that Riddick feels the same way. I hope that one day that you will come to accept Riddick as. . .someone close to our family."

Roland stepped away and nodded his head very slowly. Rakka released his chin and realized that she had tears in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and swallowed. "Let's go downstairs and see your baby brother."

Roland nodded, but didn't meet her eyes. Rakka studied him carefully. She felt something else was wrong. Well, of course something else was wrong. After EVERYTHING that happened, how could there not be something else wrong with him. Yet. . .call it mother's instinct. . .she couldn't help but feel that there was something else going on with Roland. Something VERY serious that she needed to know.

Well, she knew she couldn't probe him anymore tonight. She needed to back off for a while let him sort things out for himself. If she still felt as if there was something else going on, then she probe some more.

Roland pretty much hit it off with Jack. He helped Carol baby-sit the infant while Rakka helped Rera in the kitchen to prepare dinner. At first, Rera was horrified and embarrassed that the Princess, whom she served, was insisting on peeling potatoes while she prepared the meat, but after Rakka kept insisting and then went as far as to take the potato peeler from her grasp and began peeling.

Hera stood guard at the door while Ayamu made rounds in the soaked yard and in all the rooms. Rakka felt that they were making too much fuss about being bodyguards, but that was what they were getting paid for, so she didn't complained. Riddick locked himself in an upstairs bedroom and spoke to Adrian over the comlink system.

Dinner was somewhat awkward. Rakka had to pull Rera out of the kitchen to eat at the kitchen table with all the rest despite her protests that eating in the kitchen would be fine. Rakka forced to her to eat at the table, but allowed her to get up and fetch required items and pour the drinks in compromise. The same could be said for Hera and Ayamu, who looked very uncomfortable about eating at the same table with the client. Carol kept staring at them; obviously she had been told about Rakka's position within the Hitomian ruling system and that they had been sent as guards.

Rakka kept her eye on Roland and Riddick as she half fed Jack and herself. Roland didn't say anything to Riddick, nor did he look at him. Riddick did the same thing. It was as if they were locked in a truce to just ignored each other, however, Rakka couldn't help but notice that Roland sometimes shot Riddick a nasty look when he thought she wasn't looking.

All in all, the dinner went fine. When they were finish eating, Carol went upstairs to study, Riddick followed to continue communication with Adrian, and Ayamu took his turn to watch Rakka while Hera made rounds on the grounds. Rakka gave Jack a before bedtime bath while Rera took care of the dishes and leftovers. Roland was watching the vid in the living room alone.

A small crib had been setup for Jack in her and Riddick's bedroom and while she was carrying a sleepy Jack upstairs, a thought occurred to her. She stopped by Carol's bedroom.

Her room was a twin version of Roland's, very much neater, but it was painted in light blue which was a great contrast to Roland's gray painted walls. The bed was very neatly made with Carol lying across it studying a text book and scribbling in a notebook.

She looked and smiled in greeting at Rakka. "Hey, Aunt Rakka."

"Carol, I have a few questions, if it's alright."

"It's fine. Come in." Carol said sitting up. She closed her notebook and Rakka saw in large and colorful pen were the words CAROL AND SAMAEL FOREVER. There was also C+S written inside hearts that dotted the cover. She made a mental note to speak with Carol about this Samael, but right now she had other matters on her mind.

She stepped inside with Jack held close to her chest with one arm and shut the door behind her. "Carol, I. . .I don't like to ask you this, but how is Roland?"

She couldn't help it. She knew that she had told herself that she would give Roland space, but something kept nagging at her that there was something VERY different about Roland, but what? She knew it wasn't the training or the fact that he had grown several inches and had developed muscles, it was something else, and it was something she couldn't put her finger on.

Carol looked at her and plastered a smile on her face. "He's fine."

"I heard that he won't go to school. Is that true?"

"Yeah. When Adrian told us that he registered us for the school, I was alright with it, but Roland flat out refused. He even went as far as set the school books I brought back for him on fire in the backyard."

Rakka stared at Carol to see if she would take it back as a joke. She kept looking at Rakka with a serious and she felt her jaw drop. "Please, tell me that you aren't serious."

Carol nodded. "Yeah. Adrian was really mad at him, but Mr. Riddick didn't say anything to him at all. Just gave him this look. Really scary look, but he didn't say or do anything to Roland."

"Did Riddick or Adrian do anything to make him go to school?" Rakka asked shifting Jack more comfortably against her chest

"Well, Adrian told him that since he missed so much that if he misses anymore that he will have to repeat his grade again, but Roland said that that didn't matter because he was going to become a Necromonger."

Rakka leaned against the door. She had forgotten about Roland's wish to become a Necro. The memory of finding out made her feel heavy and very burden.

"Aunt Rakka, are you okay?" Carol asked suddenly concerned.

Rakka snapped herself awake and said, "Nothing. I'm fine. I just wanted to know what had happened. Good night." She turned and opened the door.

"Aunt Rakka." Carol called.

Rakka looked over her shoulder and said, "Yes?"  
Carol looked at in her a sort of pleading way and said, "Nothing. I. . .was just going to ask you to go easy on Roland. He's. . .been through a lot."

"I know and I'll be patient with him." Rakka promised as she shut the door behind her.

She walked further down the hallway to her bedroom. Riddick was already inside finishing up whatever business he with Adrian and hanging up the com. He watched her carry a very sleepy Jack to the crib against the far side of the wall. Jack shifted slightly as he was laid on his back on the well cushioned crib.

Rakka watched him drift to sleep. She turned her attention to Riddick who was removing his shirt. She turned and faced him. "You didn't tell me that Roland burned his school books."

"Didn't think it was important." Riddick replied folding his shirt and placing it neatly onto a nearby chair.

"Usually when a child burns his school books in the backyard, then it's really important." Rakka said walking toward the bed.

"Shit." Riddick replied as he sat on the bed. "Trust me, I've done a hell of a lot worse then burning school books."

"What? Set a teacher on fire?"

"Hadn't gotten around to that before I got tossed into the military." Riddick replied as he removed his boots.

Rakka watched him and then considered getting ready for bed herself. Then again. . . "Riddick, are you. . .still going to leave me?"

Riddick looked at her and said, "Yer makin' it sound like I'm abandonin'you and the kids."

"It feels like it." Rakka admitted. "Riddick, do you know when you are going to leave?"

"Dunno. Gonna at least wait until you decide about where the hell yer gonna go when I'm gone."

Rakka rubbed her face and said, "That's something we need to discuss, you know." She sat on the edge of the bed and looked dejectedly at the floor. "I thought. . .that as soon as I got Roland back. . .that, somehow, everything would be alright. I'm not stupid. I know that there would still be some problems we would have to work out, but I felt that everything would turn out alright. But now. . ." She took a very deep breath and said, "I feel that there is even more crap we have wade through."

"Talkin' about Roland?"

"Yeah." Rakka said rubbing her face with both hands. She felt so tired. Was it her sensitivity to cryo or was it that she felt drain about all the chaos surrounding Roland, Riddick, and herself. "He's change. I can see it and feel it."

"It happens. It's called puberty."

Rakka knew it was Riddick being a smartass, so she ignored it. "It's not that. I don't know. I'm just so tired and I am so full of dread of tomorrow."

"Go to bed." Riddick said. No 'go to bed and you'll feel better in the morning' or 'get some rest', it was one simple order.

"With you?" Rakka asked.

"I'm in the same bed ain't I?"  
"Jack is less than six feet away from us."

"I know. We're jes gonna sleep is all."  
"Alright."

It took Rakka a short five minutes to get ready. She stripped and went through the suitcases Rera and Ayamu brought up earlier after dinner. They and Hera were sleeping downstairs in a guest room, what the sleeping arrangements, Rakka didn't know. She found her favored nightshirt, which was a peach color and was cotton. She liked it because it was comfortable and warm. If she wanted to feel sexy, then she would wear a silken nightgown.

After she brushed out her hair and turned off the lights, she crawled into bed. Riddick was on one side, goggles still on despite the darkness he would feel so comfortable in. She figured that he wore them in sleep to keep any possible attackers from being able to see if he was awake or not.

He felt warm beside her and curled onto her side toward him. She touched his thick arm and loved the feeling of the smooth skin. No sex, just sleep, baby on other side of the room.

She realized that this instant, they were ALL acting like a family. Husband and wife sleeping their bed, baby in his crib, and the kids sleeping in their rooms. Without the servants sleeping downstairs, it was as if they were the average family without the Royalty, Necromongers floating above, destroyed planet, and the convict playing the part of the husband, it was a stereotypical family unit.

With this thought in mind, she went into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Carol couldn't sleep at all. It kept bothering, the guilt that she had lied to Aunt Rakka. Roland wasn't fine, he wasn't fine at all.

Obviously, from Rakka's behavior, she didn't know or wasn't told at all. She had hoped that Roland's mother would find out and sort everything out. Everything has really gone down the crapper since they were kidnapped.

Well, all except Samael. He was great. Where Roland had ignored her and dismissed her, Samael attended her and praised her. She was happy to have him and she was also scared. She didn't want to be separated from him ever, but it looked like it was going to happen. Especially, when she has to stay with Aunt Rakka and Riddick takes the Basilica off to God knows where.

It wasn't bad here on Refu. School was fine, but at first everyone was just scared to death of the orbiting Basilica and many didn't attend school at all. She was glad that no one knew she had gotten off that ship. Now, everyone was calming down and she was even making a few friends.

She wished Roland would give it a chance. She couldn't believe he burned the text books she brought back for him. Adrian had to pay 300 UDs to the school because of it. She knew that he would never have done it if he had never been around the Necros. It seemed that everything positive that happened for her, seemed negative for him.

Especially after. . .

She needed to see Roland. She got out of bed and turned on the lamplight beside her. She pulled on a pair of shorts just to be decent and stepped outside. Thankfully, everyone was asleep and Roland was just next door.

She padded down the hallway and saw that Roland's light was on from the way the light bleed from beneath the door. She knocked softly.

"What?" Came a voice that was not sleepy at all. Nowadays, Roland has been staying up later and later. Sometimes she wondered if he slept at all anymore.

"Roland, it's me."

"Come in." The door clicked as it was unlocked.

Carol slowly entered and saw Roland sitting back on his bed. He was shirtless and wore only the bottom of a dark pair of pajamas. She shut the door behind her and locked it too. Didn't want anyone walking in on their conversation, especially the one she's going to start.

"Roland, your Mom stopped by my room and asked me about you."

"What did you say?" Roland asked looking at her through his goggles.

"I lied and told her that you were fine." Carol replied.

"I am fine."

"No, you're not." Carol crossed her arms over her chest. "I think. . .I think you should tell her."

"There's nothing to tell. If Vaako didn't tell her than. . ."  
"It's still not alright. What happened was wrong and you know it. And why would Vaako want to tell your mom or Mr. Riddick anything about it. I mean, he's the Second in Command and it would look really bad if they found out about. . .'it'"

"Look, if anyone should be mad about it, it would be Vaako, but he wasn't mad at all."

"He wasn't happy about it." Carol replied. "I mean, who would. . ."

"Look, I don't wanna talk about it anymore." Roland held up a hand. "Look, it's done with, over. Never going to happen again at all."

"Is that true? Or is it something you would want to happen again?" Carol said with a raised eyebrow. "As I recall. . ."

"If you're going to be a bitch about it, then just go." Roland snapped.

"You need to tell your mom. She's going to find out."

"No, she won't. You promised to keep your mouth shut and so far Vaako hasn't said anything."

"But that doesn't mean he won't. Not unless he's asked directly."

"Then no one will ask him anything then. God, Carol, it's none of your business to begin with."  
This made her mad. Ever since Jack's kidnapping, Roland had been. . .mean to her. "Look, I'm just trying to help, but believe when I say that your mom is going to find out. One way or another she will and trust me when I say that it will be better if she hears it from you then finding out for herself."  
"Just get out of my room. And keep your mouth shut about and don't talk to me about it anymore!" Roland pointed at his bedroom door.

Without another word, Carol turned around, left his bedroom, and went into hers.


	67. Parentage2

Rakka woke up to see the usual sight of Riddick not where he was when she fell asleep. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. The bedside clock claimed that it 6:00 in the morning. She wondered what time the local school started.

It suddenly felt like old times. On Yari, she would always be the first one up before Terry or Roland. She was the one that started making breakfast and she was the one that made sure the guys got up in time to get ready for work or school.

It felt good to be in a familiar surrounding, she thought as she stumbled toward Jack's crib. He was gone. Rakka let the cold terror wash over her. She took deep breaths and told herself that Riddick had him, that he was fine. Sure enough, a second later, the door opened and in walked Riddick carrying Jack in one arm and holding a bottle in the other hand.

Rakka didn't hesitate to rush up to Riddick and take her baby into her arms without a word. "Hey, good morning, baby."

"Here." Riddick said offering the bottle.

Rakka accepted it and said, "Riddick, I'm sorry, but when I saw Jack's crib empty. . .it scared me really badly."

"No problem." Riddick said.

"Is anyone else up?"

"The Hitomians are up. Ayamu is makin' rounds, Hera gone to town, and Rera is in the kitchen."

"How long have they been up?" Rakka asked shifting Jack more comfortably against her chest.

"An hour."

"What about Carol and Roland?"

"Carol is getting ready for school and Roland is still asleep."

Rakka took a deep breath and said, "Roland is going to school today and I'm going with him. I'm going to try to speak with the principal and see if we can somehow find a way for Roland to finish up eighth grade without having to repeat it. Maybe he could do summer school. Maybe even take night classes."

"Yer gonna stay here on Refu?"

"I. . .I don't know. Maybe for a while, but I want Roland to get back into school as soon as possible."

Riddick looked at her, but said nothing. She felt as if he was giving her a pitiful look as if she was trying to take on an uphill battle. Since he had nothing to say, she said nothing in return.

* * *

She gave Jack his feeding downstairs in the kitchen while Rera prepared oatmeal. Carol came down.

"Morning." Carol greeted. She was wearing a clean pair of jeans and long sleeve pink sweater.

Rakka smiled and replied, "Good morning."

Rera said nothing, but instantly spooned some oatmeal into a bowl and practically served it with a spoon dipped into it. Carol looked at her nervously and thanked her for the food.

Rakka gave her an apologetic look and said, "Sorry, I've been trying to break her of this habit, but she's persistent in her job."

"And that is to serve you, Princess." Rera blurted out embarrassed.

"We're sorry, Rera. You have to serve people who never in a day of their lives have someone do their work for them." Carol giggled softly and Rakka asked, "Carol, how are you going to get to school?"

"There's a passenger hover that arrives at a stop down the road. It's within walking distance and I have an umbrella for the rain."

"You know not to go off with anybody." Rakka had to say. It was one of the reflexes that motherhood instilled into her. "You know, I could ask Ayamu to drive you to the school so you won't get so wet."

"Oh, it's no problem. Ayamu looked like he might want to stay here and look after you and Jack. I'll be fine. I won't be alone, and there are other kids that wait at the hover stop too."

Carol offered up a shy grin and started to help herself to the oatmeal. "What do you plan to do today, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well, I'm going to get Roland out of bed and take him to school. I'm going to try to make arrangements with the principal and see what we can do to keep Roland from repeat the eighth grade. And I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping him catch up. I'll pay you if you like."

Carol swallowed a mouthful of oatmeal and gave her the same pitiful look Riddick gave her just a while ago. It was a look a parent would give a handicap child when they stated that he or she intended to become a World Olympic gymnast. A very pitiful look.

Rakka furrow her brows and said, "Is something wrong?"

"No, not really." Carol said stirring her oatmeal in deep thought. "He . . . I don't think he's going to go for that."

"He's going to do as I tell him, because he is my son and I am his mother." Rakka said stiffly.

"I know." Carol replied. "That's why it's going to be a war."

* * *

After Carol left for school, Rakka handed Jack to Rera and told her to keep him downstairs if she could.

She didn't want to believe that Roland was going to be difficult, but she would be stupid not to take Carol's warning and Riddick's grimness seriously. She went upstairs with her mind set for whatever argument Roland might throw at her. Planning what she was going to say and preparing for what Roland may say was what helped her when Roland began to teen years.

She knocked on the door of his bedroom softly. When there was no reply, she opened it. Roland was lying on his back on the bed, hands folded behind his head with a set of headphones on his head. The player was resting on the pillow beside his head.

"MOM!" Roland sputtered as he sat up and ripped the headphones from his head. "Can't you knock?"

"I did knock, but you couldn't hear me." Rakka replied. The headphones were spewing rock loud enough for her to make out the lyrics. "Roland, remember when I told you not to turn the volume up so high. You're going to lose your hearing before you get old."

"Yeah, yeah." Roland said as he switched off the player. Then he growled, "What do you want?"

"How about you take a nicer tone with me to begin with?" Rakka asked knowing that this was actually the calm before the storm. "I want you to take shower and get dressed. We're going to your school and see if there is a way that you won't have to repeat the eighth grade."

Roland stared at her and shook his head. "No way."

"Roland, it's for the best. I asked Carol and she'll help you catch up on what you missed."

I'm not going back to school. I quit."

"Why?" Rakka asked crossing her arms over her chest. "I remember you liked going to school back on Yari."

"But that school is torched!" Roland snapped. "All my friends and teachers are gone!"

Rakka licked her lips and said, "Roland, I'm sorry that that horrible thing happened and I am sure that you miss them very much. But we have to move on. You need a high school education in order to get into college."

"Mom, I don't plan on going to college." Roland said in a quiet tone.

Rakka stared at him and leaned against the doorframe. "Then what do you plan to do with your life?"

"I want to live on Basilica and train to become a Necromonger soldier." Roland said studying her face.

This was it. This was the fight Rakka had dreaded since Riddick told her about Roland's desire to become a Necromonger. She clutched her elbows tightly as if bracing herself. "Roland, you do realize it was Necromongers who destroyed Yari, right?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then why. . ."

"I can't explain, Mom." Roland said looking away. "I. . .I liked the way they treated me."

"In what way did they treat you that you liked?"

"They treated me like an adult. They let me make my own decisions and mistakes. They didn't treat me like a kid." Roland explained.

"Could you give me some examples, please?" Rakka asked shifting her feet.

"They. . .when I began training, they didn't go easy on me. They were strict and expected me to learn it the first time they showed me. I had my as. . .butt kicked dozens of times by them. Sometimes I would be knocked unconsious for the rest of the day."

"And how is that great?"

"I don't know. It's hard to explain. I think it was because they knew I could take it and I did. Before the month was over, I was giving as good as I got and that was when they respected me. They stopped calling me Riddick's son or the Lord Marshal's son and started calling me Roland."

"So you want to become one because they respect you?" Rakka asked still not understanding.

"You wouldn't understand." Roland replied.

"I want to. I really want to, but I can't if you don't tell me." Rakka stepped forward.

Roland started to look frustrated and said, "Mom, look, you're just not going to understand. Chronis said you wouldn't. . ."

"Chronis! Riddick told me about what he tried to do!" Rakka snapped. "He tried to have you killed!"

"No! That was that idiotic Tilos that messed up! He got overexcited with the bazooka and almost got me killed with Riddick!"

Then there were several minutes of silence between them as the revelation washed over Rakka. She didn't want to believe it, not at all, that Roland had been apart of the plot to kill Riddick.

"Roland, did you know about. . .them wanting to kill Riddick?" Rakka asked.

"Mom, I didn't know. Tilos got the bazooka from somewhere, I don't know. I. . .I just wanted to beat him for everything he's done to us."

"And what exactly is it that Riddick has done to us?" Rakka asked.

"He left you to raise me alone. He came back and got you pregnant with Jack and left. He took you away and you know everything."

"Roland, listen to me." Rakka sighed slowly. "There is a lot you don't know and don't understand. You only know just a small part of what happened. One day, Riddick and I will tell you about our past. About how we met, about our relationship, and everything, but right now, I'm concerned about your future."

"Mom, I already know what I want to do." Roland said. "I'm not going back to school and I am not going to college."

"Roland, you are not going back to the Basilica." Rakka said in finality. "And I mean it. You will not join them, you will not train with them, and you will not ever again be on that ship again."

Roland stared at her and he sat up on the edge of the bed. "Riddick is the Lord Marshal he. . ."

"He won't." Rakka didn't know what Roland was going to say about Riddick, but she continued anyway. "I'm going to tell Riddick to never let you on that ship again and if, by some unfathomable way you do get on it, you will not receive this Mark. In fact, he'll drop you off on the next planet or colony station."

"That. Is. Not. Fair." Roland said through his teeth. "You can't. . ."

"I can because I am your mother and I know what is best for you." Rakka explained. "The Necromongers are. . .the worst kind of people in the universe. I know it sounds bigoted and prejudice, but these people have unnecessarily and without provocation killed billions of people. They destroyed my home planet and yours too. I won't have you having anything to do with them at all."

"Wanna bet?" Roland said under his breath.

"Yes, I do want to bet." Rakka snapped. "I bet you a week's allowance and you're grounded for a week for that attitude!"

"Whatever!" Roland slapped the headphones back onto his head.

"Roland! Take those headphones off right now! You and I are going to the school!"

Roland turned the volume up loud and pretended that he couldn't hear her due to it. Loud enough for Rakka to hear the screaming lyrics. She stepped forward and ripped the headphones off. "ROLAND! You heard me! You better be ready when I come back or I'll extend your grounding to a month!"

Without another word, she turned, walked out of the room, and slammed the door shut behind her. She was furious with him and very concerned. She never seen Roland treat her with such disrespect before in his life. He had to have learned it from the Necromongers. That was the only place she could think of that he could learn that behavior.

Rakka stalked into her bedroom and without meaning to, slammed the door behind her. Riddick had been sitting at the desk speaking on the com when the bang of the door stopped his speech.

"Adrian, lissen, I'ma gonna hafta call ya back." Riddick said promptly before he hung up. "How it go?"

"Bad." Rakka said and then told him of what had happened. "I don't know what the hell has gotten into him!"

"The Necros did." Riddick replied turning his chair around to face her.

"Can you fill me in on what the hell they did to him?" Rakka demanded.

"They adopted him." Riddick replied. "Think about it. When we left him on Yari, he was pretty bad off. Kids like him; they take to anybody that treats 'em with respect and other shit. Chronis saw that and took advantage of him."

"He was so rude and disrespectful toward me, Riddick. I am so angry with him. I don't know what I'm going to do if he isn't ready to go when I am." Rakka said under her breath.

"Need me to. . ."

"No, I have to handle it myself. I need to let him know that nothing has changed. I am still his mother and he still has to obey me."

Riddick made a sound under his breath. Rakka couldn't tell if it was a frustrated grunt or a chuckle of amusement. Anyway she chose to ignore it.

She took a longer shower than she normally. She wanted to give Roland time to cool down, think, and get ready himself. She dressed into a nice dark blue dress and chose low heel pumps which were the same shade as the dress. She chose to let her hair hand loose down her back and wore light makeup.

It took her a bit longer than an hour, but it was fine since she wanted to give Roland time to come around. During this time, Riddick was either watching her or doing whatever he was doing with Adrian over the com.

When she knocked on Roland's door, there was no reply.

"Roland?" She said as she slowly opened the door. His room was empty. He must be downstairs waiting for her.

She headed downstairs. He wasn't in the living room nor was he in the kitchen where Rera was already preparing lunch with Jack amusing himself with blocks in a high chair.

"Rera?" Rakka said. "Did do you know where Roland is?"

"Why yes, he went to town." Rera replied as she stirred a substance in a pot.

"What?"

Rera looked up when she heard Rakka's tone. She began to look nervous and said, "About an hour ago, he took the hover and went into town. He said he had your permission."

Rakka felt her blood chill in her veins. "Rera, I didn't give ANY permission to take the hover."  
She watched Rera's face turn white as a sheet. "But. . . he said that. . .you said he could. . .oh god."

Rakka tried to calm her breathing and asked, "Did he. . .say where. . .he might have gone?"

Rera looked as if she was going to start crying. "No ma'am. . .he just said he was going out."

Rakka felt like the air was leaving the area around her. "Where's Ayamu?"

"Outside." The girl whimpered.

"Go and get him. Tell him what happened. I'm going to tell Riddick." Rakka turned and hurried to her bedroom.

Her mind started race with horrible thoughts and scenes. He's in a wreck; he's being mugged, kidnapped, and hundred other thoughts raced through the mind of a frantic mother. What the hell was Rera thinking when she let her fifteen year old son take the hover like that? She burst through the door and Riddick calmly looked over his shoulder at her.

"Roland is gone." She managed to gasp. "He took the hover."

"Yeah." Riddick replied as if Rakka had stated that birds could fly. "Looks like you two won't be talkin' with the principal after all."

Rakka stared at him. "Aren't you concerned at all? He's only fifteen years old and he's driving!"  
"On Refu you can get a driver's license at age fifteen." Riddick replied. "Roland got his last month before I left to get you."

Rakka stared at him, not sure if she heard him correctly. "Wait, you mean that it is legal for Roland to drive at his age?"

"That's what I jes said." Riddick replied.

"Does he know his way around the town?"

"Yeah, he does. He'll go there to rent discs, run errands, and all kinds of shit."

Rakka didn't know which made her angrier. Roland running off with telling her and disobeying in one go or Riddick not ever telling her that Roland got his driver's license. She was full of rage, it scared her.

"I can't tell which it is, Riddick." She said in a tired tone. She sat on the edge of the bed. "You either love seeing me go through hell or you just don't give a damn."

Riddick swiveled around on the chair and watched her. "Rakka, I didn't tell you cuz I didn't think to tell you. I forgot about it myself."

"Whatever you say, Riddick." Rakka replied. "Either way, Roland has run off and I don't know where the hell he's gone to."

"He'll come back soon. He's gotta eat."

There was a very tentative knock at the door and then Ayamu opened it slightly. "May I come in?"

"Yes, please do." Rakka said weakly.

Ayamu came in looking professional and not as all as frightened as Rera was. His hair was wet and his skin looked damped from the rain. "I saw the hover pull out of the garage so I stopped it. Roland told me that had given permission to take it and go into town, so I didn't stop him or report his leaving to you. For that I apologize greatly and it will never happen again."

"No, no, you don't have to apologize for anything." Rakka gave him a very weak smile and said, "Roland, has lied to us both. And I apologize to you for that and so will Roland when he gets back."

Riddick made a gruff sound in his throat that caused Rakka to look over her shoulder at him. She turned back to Ayamu and said, "Please keep an eye out for him and let Hera know that if she sees him in town to tell him to come home right now."

Ayamu bowed to her and left the room, shutting the door tightly behind him. She turned back to Riddick and demanded, "Okay, what was that for?"

"Nothin'." Riddick replied turning around back to his desk.

"No, no, tell me. Tell me exactly what is it I'm doing wrong with Roland?"

Riddick turned back to her and said, "You might not like it."

"I never like anything that comes out of your mouth." Rakka snapped.

Riddick shrugged and said, "Rakka, he's testing you and depending on how you treat this is gonna decide on how he's gonna act."

"And you care to explain this?"

"He's been through a whole lotta shit this year. His dad dyin', findin' out that he guy he called dad isn't his father, his mom had an affair, little brother kidnapped, being kidnapped, having his home and everything he grew up knowing is destroyed, and now he's been taken out of an environment he was comfortable in by his own mother." Riddick said. "Rakka, he's changed. He's working with lotta anger right now and he wants to know if you've changed too."

Rakka understood and said, "He wants to see if I'm going to act as if nothing has happened or am I going to be harder on him." She felt so tired right now. "Riddick, I don't know. . .which is the best way to treat him. I don't want to be too hard on him because of everything that's happened, but I don't want this to slide or else he's going to think he can get away with everything."

"You want me to handle it?" Riddick asked still staring at her.

"No, no, I can do it." Rakka said taking a deep breath. "I need to. He's still going to be living with me for the next three years at least and I'm not going to spend them tip toeing around him like he's some ticking time bomb. When he gets back, I'm going to tell him he's grounded for a month. Right now, I'm going into his room and taking out his vid, game system, and whatever things I can think to take away."

* * *

It was an hour before Rakka left Roland's room. First, she took out his vid and packed into a cardboard box and set it out in the hallway. She gathered up the player and the various discs that littered the floor. He had no game system which was fine.

As she was about to get Ayamu to gather the vid and take it downstairs, a thought occurred to her to do something. It was something she had hoped and prayed she would NEVER have to do. Search his drawers and closet for anything that she would never want him to have.

A voice inside her mind told her that she was being ridiculous. Roland knew better than to deal with drugs. But another voice said that Roland wasn't the son she remembered on Yari and she may never get a chance. She knew that if she didn't search she would never get a good night's sleep and it would forever grate on her mind. If she found nothing, then it would give her peace of mind, but if she did. . .it would be better for her to find out now and deal with it before it brought more harm.

Her heart pounded as she searched through his drawers. Her mind screamed with terror each time she opened a drawer. She would go through each folded garment in case something was hidden within their folds. The little voice kept growing louder as she search through each drawer and found nothing harmful.

This is stupid. You know Roland, he knows better than to use drugs. He wouldn't. . .

As she was scraping around in his sock drawer, she felt something solid and round. She lifted it up and it was a round canister with a screw on lid. She unscrewed it and hoped to God it was some sort of cream men needed or for chap lips.

Inside were gray and black herbs which gave off a strange scent. She didn't recognize it as a common drug. Necromonger, it had to be something from the Necromongers. She hurried out of the bedroom and went down the hall to her bedroom with her heart pounding in her chest.

Riddick was still there at his desk. What he was working on, she didn't know. She entered the bedroom holding up the container, "Riddick, do you know what this is?"

Riddick looked over his shoulder at it and said, "A container."

"No! I want to know what it is that is in the container!" Rakka snapped as she crossed the room and held it under his nose.

Riddick leaned back and took it from her. He stirred a large finger around in the contents and sniffed it. "Meditation herbs. Hemis."

"What?" Rakka asked. "It from Necros, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's pretty common."

"Is it something bad?"

"Bad?"

"Narcotic."

"No." Riddick said. "They smell it when they meditate or grind it up for some sort of tea. Never heard of anyone being addicted to it."

"So it's not bad?"  
"Where'd you find this?"  
"In Roland's sock drawer."

Riddick's eyebrows jumped with interest and he said, "Going through the boy's drawers now?"

"Can you blame me after the way he's been acting?" Rakka crossed her arms. "So its nothing bad?"  
"It ain't a drug, but I dunno about it being 'bad'." Riddick handed it back to her.

She took it and screwed the cap back on. "If it isn't bad, then why would he hide it?"  
"Dunno. Why would anybody hide something from others?"

Rakka couldn't answer. She went back to Roland's bedroom and put it back where she found it. She couldn't decide whether it was better than being a drug or worse.

* * *

She spent the rest of the day waiting. She waited for the sound of the hover pulling up, she waited for the com to beep with a voice telling her there had been a wreck, and she waited for Roland to just call, to just call and let her know if he was alright or not.

The worry chewed at her insides. It was pouring outside that the windows looked as if they were made to be distorted. It made the world blurry and washed out. She imagined Roland having a wreck because of the distortion through his windshield.

Carol came home at around 4:00 laden with school books. Rakka pounced on her seeing if maybe Roland had gone by the school. Carol, eyes wide, said that she hadn't seen or heard from Roland all day. Rakka assured her that everything was alright and that Roland would be home soon. Anyway, Carol stayed with Rakka and comforted her despite the homework she needed to do for school.

Rera spent the day looking like a dog that just received a harsh whipping. She kept looking frightfully at Rakka as if expecting her to start screaming or slapping her. Rakka told her that she didn't blame her at all. She said that Roland was to blame for lying to her and leaving without permission.

Ayamu kept stalking outside. It seemed that he took Roland's lie to heart and to him it was as if the boy had made him look bad in his Princess's eyes. He held an angry glint in his red eyes for the rest of the day.

Jack, possibly sensing something was wrong, was fussy all day. Nothing that Rera did pleased him and Rakka was in no shape to take over.

Riddick was the calmest out of all of them. He simple worked at his desk in the bedroom and only came down to eat or grab a beer. He made comment about Roland's absence or made any movement to comfort Rakka.

5:00 came and went. 6:00 came and went. And so did 7:00. Rakka didn't eat lunch or dinner. Her eyes stayed on the clock and her ears listened out for the hover. She paced up and down the living room in her dress barefoot, she had long ago kicked off the shoes. Her hair was tangled from her running her fingers through it and stress while the makeup still on her face was almost smeared.

8:00, 9:00, and 10:00 slipped by. Rakka called Hera and the local hospitals. Hera did not see Roland, nor did the hospital received a teenage boy of Roland's description. Carol even called up a few people she knew that Roland hung out with. They haven't seen him either. Ayamu's eyes were frantic as if he rather he out looking for Roland instead of sticking around waiting, but since he was the only guard he had to perform his duty and guard Rakka. Riddick was still calm and working on whatever in bedroom where Jack had been put down a while ago.

11:00, 12:00, and then 1:00 rolled by. Rakka was frantic with worry. She even had to vomit in the bathroom. Luckily, she did this after Carol went to bed. Rera was too afraid and sick to go to bed or perform any chores. She sat on the couch and stared at clasped hands between her knees. Riddick came down and sat on the couch beside Rera and turned on the vid to some late night horror movie.

1:30 A.M. in the morning, the hover finally pulled up. Rakka had imagined that she would have run outside to either hug him or slap him. But she just froze feeling the horror, anxiety, and worry thaw out of her body. Rera looked up, her gold eyes wide and full of hope. Riddick continued to watch the horror flick as if nothing was happening other than the movie being on.

The door opened and Roland stepped inside. He was wearing a pair of tight jeans, dark brown shoes, a white shirt, with a dark leather jacket. He shut the door behind him and looked around the room. "Hey."

"Hey?" Rakka heard herself say. "'Hey' is all you have to say?"

Roland shrugged and said, "I guess so."

"DO NOT TAKE THAT ATTITUDE WITH ME!" Rakka screamed. "NOT AFTER THE HELL YOU PUT ME THROUGH TODAY!"

Rolance winced when she screamed, but he stood straight as if he had the right to go out as he had done. "Mom, I'm tired and you look tired too. Let's just go to bed and talk about this in the morning."

Rakka felt her rage bloom into a torrent of red. She was so angry, she couldn't speak nor could she move. Roland started up the stairs and she shouted, "Don't you dare take a step up those stairs!"

Roland looked around at her annoyed. "Mom, I really don't want to do this right now."

"Oh, just like I didn't want to go through what I went through today? What you put us all through today? Rera and Ayamu have felt nothing but guilt because you lied to them. Carol was worried about you. She called up everybody she knew trying to find you and I've been here about to pull my hair out imaging you getting into a wreck, getting killed, and God knows what else!"

"You didn't need to worry." Roland replied.

"I had every right to be worried to death. I want you to tell me where the hell you have been?"

"In town." Roland replied.

"Where in town?" Rakka said through gritted teeth.

"Wherever I wanted to be." Roland said snidely.

"You are grounded for the next three months." Rakka said through her teeth. Roland tossed his head back and it wasn't hard to tell that he had rolled his eyes. In that moment, Rakka had never wanted to bodily harm her son more than in his whole life. She wanted to slap that smirk off his face and give him several hard licks with a belt. "And I took out your vid and your player."

Now this caught Roland's attention. "Wait, you can't. . ."

"I can and I did. They are downstairs in the closet and you will NOT get them back until after three months and if you act out of line again, I will extend your grounding by a month more."

"Which closet?" Roland asked.

"You don't need to know that."

Roland sauntered to the closet that held the housecoats in the living room. "Are they in here?"

"Roland, no. You are not getting them back!" Rakka said stiffly

Roland opened the door as if she had said nothing at all and saw the box containing his vid. He began to drag it out. That was it. Rakka had it. She stormed forward and grabbed him by the arm. "Roland, I said NO!"

He twisted around to snatch his arm out of her grip, but she held on. Then he jerked his arm so hard that the back of his hand connected with her face and a resounding slap echoed through the room.

Rakka released his arm and stumbled backwards clutching her stinging cheek, her blue-violet eyes wide with disbelief. The room was so silent; you could cut the tension with a knife. Rera looked horrified and Riddick watched the situation with thin lips.

Rakka choked and her nose stung as the tears blurred her vision. Roland's face began to blanched, but he kept his face blank in a 'so what' expression.

"Rera, take Rakka upstairs. Me and the kid are gonna have a chat." Riddick said flicking off the vid.

Rera slowly got to her feet and nodded her head; her golden eyes were still wide with shock. She approached a weeping Rakka and gently led her to the stairs.

Riddick stared at Roland for a full minute while the women went up the stairs. Roland fought back the nervous feeling in his chest, but stood his ground. He had felt great guilt at striking his mother, but. . .it was her fault for interfering with his life and decisions. And if it took dealing with this asshole for her to get the picture, then so be it.

They continued to stare at each other as if waiting for the other to speak. Riddick never looked bigger or more menacingly to Roland than before. He began to shift his feet and then said, "Well? Aren't you going to take off your belt and beat the shit out of me?"

That brought a smile to Riddick's lips and he said, "If I thought it would fix everything, I would. But trust me, yer gonna wish I would."

Roland shifted his feet. "Mom already took my vid and player away and grounded me for three months."

"And I don't think that's gonna do a lick of good, do you?" Riddick asked.

"So what are you going to do?" Roland asked.

"Me? I've been in a few Slams and I pretty much know how it works in and out." Riddick leaned against the couch. "You wanna know why the criminals are so violent in prison? Why they seem more worse off coming out then they did goin' in?"

Roland shrugged his shoulders. Was this behemoth going to perform some sort of prison torture on him?

"Cuz the inmates didn't have any fuckin' choices." Riddick said stretching his long legs out before him. "They went to their cells, ate their meals, and took shits when they were told to do so. When yer not given many choices, you take advantage of the ones you DO have. Like whether or not I'm gonna cut this guy's throat, or whether I'm gonna fuck this guy in the ass or make 'em suck it."

Roland stared at his father with wide eyes. NO ONE had ever spoken to him like this before. Not Chronis nor the Necro soldiers that trained him. Sure, there were kids in his school on Yari that swore, but never talked about rape.

"Another thing they do is test the limits. See what they can get away with or what happens if they did this. Such as throwin' shit at a guard or slittin' some poor shit's throat in front of 'em. Same thing you were doin' jes now with Rakka. You wanted to see how far you could go before she snapped. You did before she did."

"I didn't mean to. . ."

"I know you didn't. Trust me, I know when someone's throwin' a punch. What really got to her was the testin' you were doin'."

"What are you going to do?" Roland repeated.

"Gonna make a deal with ya." Riddick said.

"A deal?"

"Yeah, a deal. It's gonna make things better in the long run. You and yer mom are gonna get what you both want in the end. Been thinkin' about it ever since you ran off."

Roland crossed his arms. "What kind of deal?"

"Fer starters, you don't hafta go to school if ya don't wanna anymore, but. . ." Roland started to look relieved. ". . . but, yer gonna get a job or yer ass is goin' to be put out of the house."

Roland stared at him to see if he was joking. He wasn't.

Riddick continued, "And yer gonna pay rent, the electricity and water you use, and the food you eat, that is unless you get take out."

Roland stood stunned.

"Oh, and yer also gonna have to rent the hover and pay for the gas used whenever you drive it to go places for yourself."

"You are kidding." Roland whispered.

"I'm gonna have Rera write down the food and amount you eat and I'll also monitor how much water, gas, and electricity you use. At the end of the week, I'm gonna give you a bill and you'll have till the end of the month to pay it off along with the following bills after that. If the electricity ain't paid, you don't get to use power. Gas ain't paid, you don't drive the hover no more. Water ain't paid, you get no more baths or showers. And you get the gist when it comes to the food." Riddick licked his upper lip and continued, "If you help out around the house, help Rera with a few chores than maybe I'll give ya a free a meal or trim a bit off one of the bills."

Roland felt as if the air around him was being sucked away.

"So you got a choice." Riddick said leaning forward. "You kin go to school, take the punishment yer mother dished out for you or you kin be our payin' tenant, not be grounded and get yer vid and player back."

_This is a test. It's gotta be. No way is Mom gonna let this guy screw with me like this. She's going to overturn him and tell him to go to hell when she finds out what he's up to. _

"Okay, fine." Roland said. "Can I get a few days to find a job in town?"

"You got till the beginning of next week before I start monitoring what you use." Riddick said with a grin as if he had won a bet or a fight.

When Riddick entered the bedroom, he saw Rakka sitting on the bed. Her face was streaked with smeared eyeliner and her hair was tangled and messy. Rera was washing her face with a damp dish clothes, rubbing away the smeared makeup. She looked up at Riddick with grieving eyes.

"You can leave now. Don't tell Hera or Ayamu about. . .you know what. Jes tell 'em that Roland got home safe, but from now on if Roland takes the hover anywhere, they have to double check with Rakka or me before he takes the thing out of the garage. There's gonna be some changes around here starting next week."

Rera nodded and stood touching Rakka's shoulder. She bowed to Riddick and Rakka before she left. Riddick came around the bed to stand in front of her. Rakka looked up at him.

"I failed, Riddick." She said in a voice devoid of all emotion. "I. . .I know I'm best mother in the world, but I'd like to think that I was a good mother. Whenever I made a mistake, I pray and promise that tomorrow I would do better. I thought if I love him enough then everything would be alright, that he'd be a good kid and grow into a good man."

"Rakka, he's just being rebellious. He hasn't turned out like me yet." Riddick replied.

"The best I can do now is hope I don't repeat my mistakes with Jack." Rakka continued.

"Go take a bath. I took care of Roland. He's gonna start treating you better before too long."

"Riddick, after he slapped me, there was. . .a split second when I. . .wished. . ." She broke down, her face distorted and she buried her face into her hands. "I wished that he had died on Yari."

"Rakka, you were pissed. We want bad things to happen to fuckers who hurt us."

"I'm his mother, Riddick. He grew inside of me for nine months. I took care for him and loved him throughout his infancy and childhood." She choked on a sob and said, "Riddick, I. . .I am so scared of tomorrow and the next day and the next."

"Rakka, lissen to me. It's gonna be rough for and him. Lemme take care of him for now. He's just a kid trying to take care of himself and he thinks yer tryin' to interfere with that. It's. . .it's gonna get better."


	68. Closet

When Rakka woke up that morning, she did not feel better at all. She felt as if she got out of bed the whole world would collapse on top of her. She curled on her side beside Riddick who seemed to be sleeping soundly, but who could tell when it came to him.

Jack was across the room sleeping peacefully in his crib. It seemed that the day he spent yesterday being fussy wore him out. He slept the whole night without waking up and disturbing his parents.

Rakka tried to go back to sleep and hope that she would wake up out of this nightmare. She thought about what Terry would think about Roland's behavior and shudder. She had to have screwed up somewhere. She should have been a better wife to Terry, a better mother to Roland, and a better person to the universe.

"Ya didn't sleep much." Riddick said disturbing her thoughts.

"I. . .no, I didn't sleep much at all." Rakka said into his side. "I keep wishing that I dreamt last night. That Roland didn't run off, that he didn't disrespected me so badly in front of you and Rera, and he. . .didn't hit me."

"He didn't hit you, Rakka. It was an accident. . .that time. But it ain't gonna happen again."

"He probably got his vid and player back after I left." Rakka whispered sorrowfully.

"Yeah, he did, but under my terms."

Rakka lifted her head to stare at him. "Terms? What. . .did you do to him last night?"

"Took away a hell of a lotta privileges he took for granted. He's no longer our kid. He's our payin' tenant now."

Rakka stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"I gave him a choice. Either go back to school and take the punishment you gave him or get a job and pay us rent and bills."

Rakka continued to stare at him, unsure if she heard him correctly. "What did he choose?"

"He chose to be a tenant, but he thinks that yer gonna overrule me and take us back to square one. That ain't gonna happen." He said the last part in a tone that sounded final. "Rakka, you need to back me up on this. Roland thinks yer gonna bail him out and if you do, yer gonna go back further than square one with him."

Rakka swallowed and said, "Alright, it's your court. Everything I tried to do failed. All I ask is for you to be fair to him."

"He hadn't been fair to you."

"The relationship between mother and son is never fair, Riddick." Rakka replied. "I went through nine months of discomfort and experienced several hours of intense pain to bring him into this world. I gave up years of my life to raise him. I worked hard to make sure he had everything he needed and give him the things he wanted. I praised him when he was good and I scolded when he done wrong. I wiped away his tears when cries and laugh with him when he jokes. I have to live with the knowledge that one day there's going to be another woman who's going to be more important in his life than me. He's going to get married and have another family and I have to hope that I can be apart of that. I never. . .not once in his life thought 'one day, he's going to repay me for all of this'. I'd gladly throw myself in front of a speeding hover or take a bullet for him. If he needed every organ in his body replaced, I'd. . .I'd kill myself so he could have my organs."

"And he turned around and treats you like shit." Riddick said. His voice sounded louder. He must have turned his head to look at her.

"I know, Riddick, I know." Rakka said wiping her eyes of the tears that had fallen. "I know I shouldn't be so hurt. I mean, whose son doesn't rebel and hurt his mother's feelings every now and then."

"You're too sensitive."

"I know."

"Rakka, has the thought occurred to you that you might have to let him go."

She stared at him, feeling her heart pound beneath her breast. "Sorry?"

"Rakka, let 'im go with love. Put it all behind you. At least that way, you two can still get along."

Rakka swallowed and said, "Riddick, you don't know what you're talking about."

"Maybe." Riddick said sitting up and swinging his long legs over the edge of the bed. "Jes think about it."

Rakka did think about it. Letting someone go with love. It sounded like a sad end to a love triangle. How did it pertain to her and Roland?

She got up to see Jack was awake and was staring at the propel hanging toys above his face. She slipped into a robe and lifted Jack from his crib. He needed a change and a morning feeding.

She changed him and laid him back down into his crib. She wanted to brush her teeth before she went downstairs. The first thing she did every morning since she could remember was use the toilet and clean her teeth. The idea of walking around with stained teeth or smelly breath horrified her and it was something she instilled into Roland when he was a child.

When she turned on the lights of the bathroom, she froze and stared at her reflection in horror. She looked horrible. She was surprised that Jack hadn't started crying with terror when she took him out of the crib.

Her eyes were bloodshot and the area around her eyes was swollen and pink. Her make up was smeared all over her face and there was a fresh bruise on her cheek where Roland had hit her. No wonder Riddick didn't try to make a move on her last night.

She washed her face twice and patted it dry on a towel. The makeup was gone and her eyes were starting to look better, but the bruise was still visible for all to see. She gently touched the bruise and winced when it protested with pain. The skin was slightly swollen.

She would need to use makeup, but she would need to dress up as if she was going somewhere. She never bothered to use makeup unless she was going somewhere where she would need to dress up. A date, to the bank, a school meeting, or whatever she would need to dress up to be presentable. She never understood women who wore makeup even at home. She rarely had to go out and buy more makeup.

This time is going to have to be an exception. She reached for the makeup bag she had set under the cabinet sink.

"Don't cover it up." A gravel voice rumbled behind her.

She stood straight and looked over her shoulder to see Riddick standing in the doorway fully dressed. He had had left to grab a cup of coffee earlier before she had the nerve to finally get out of bed.

"You can cover it up, but everybody here are still gonna know its there. And you'll be saying to Roland that what he did doesn't matter. Don't make it easier for him to forget. Cuz, if he forgets, then he'll more likely do it again."

He left the doorway, having said his say. Rakka stared at the doorway as if he was still here, her makeup bag clutched in one hand. She swallowed and slowly put it back inside the cabinet. She washed her face one more and brushed her teeth.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, she was downstairs giving Jack his morning feeding while Rera prepared breakfast of eggs and bacon. Rakka chose to go with a pair of light gray sweat pants and a thick long sleeve shirt with a pair of thick woolen house socks on her feet.

Rera said only good morning to her with a quick curtsy, but with an even quicker glance at the tell tale bruise on her cheek. Rakka said nothing more to Rera and concentrated on the son whom she was certain loves her.

Jack stared wide eyed at Rakka while he worked on the bottle with his lips. She wondered if he could notice the bruise. Was he wondering what that dark color on Mommy's face? Or being a baby, he was unable to comprehend anything was amiss?

Carol came down fully dressed for school and her bag laden with books. "How did it go with Roland?"

"It. . .didn't go very well." Rakka said keeping her face lowered away from Carol.

"I'm sorry. He. . .Aunt Rakka, I think I should tell you something." Carol walked around the table.

"It's alright, Carol." Rakka said. "I. . .it's going to be alright."

"No, you need to kno. . .what happened to your face?"

Rakka swallowed and lifted her head. "Like I said, it didn't go very well."

Carol stared at her in complete shock. "Roland hit you?"

"It was an accident, but it did get to that area because it was bad."

"Aunt Rakka, Roland hasn't been the same since Yari. I am so sorry."  
"No, Carol, you've done nothing wrong."

"Still, I'm his best friend. . .or I was."

Rakka looked sadly at the girl who once held strong feelings for her son. "He pushed you away too?"

"Yeah." Carol took a seat and leaned forward on her elbows. "He. . .he just kept being hateful to me and didn't want to be around me anymore."  
"That must have been horrible that the only person from your old life alive doesn't want you." Rakka whispered.

"Yeah, it hurt a lot. But Samael was there, so it wasn't all bad."  
Rakka shifted in her seat, almost disturbing Jack. "Tell me about him."

"Well, when he was three years old his mother died, but his father never came and claimed him. He bounced around foster homes until the Necromongers came to the planet that he happened to be on with his last set of foster parents. He converted and been a Necromonger ever since. He's a very talented solider and everyone likes him."

Carol spoke like a wife bragging about her husband. Rakka stared at Carol and couldn't help but notice that she too had grown. Her figure had developed a bit more and her hair was no longer frizzy and go everywhere, it was straight, and seemed to gleam. Carol was a beautiful young woman.

Rakka smiled when Carol ran her fingers through her hair. She remember being Carol's age and worrying about her looks when she was really beautiful. It was the girls that knew that they were beautiful that you had to worry about.

"Rera?" She asked.

The maid looked up from the stove. "Princess?"

"Could you take Jack upstairs? I want to talk to Carol for a little bit about something personal."

Rera dutifully nodded and turned off the stove and set the food she was cooking aside. She then took Jack from Rakka and left the kitchen. Rakka waited until she was sure they were alone before speaking to a curious and puzzled Carol.

"Carol, he's. . .I mean. . ." God, she wasn't Carol's mother and she didn't want to look as if she was trying to take her place. How would Reki handle this? Probably have a heart attack. Carol's adoptive mother might handle it a bit like it was a ticking time bomb. She supposed she should just handle it her way. "Carol, I'm not trying to nag you or get on your case, but please hear me out."

Carol sat straight on her chair and said, "Okay."

"Carol, I can see that you are very taken with this young man. I am sure that for him to have your attention, then there must be some merit to him. However, Carol, you are a beautiful young woman and you are happy right now, despite the horrible things that have happened and I would HATE for something horrible to happen to you." Rakka swallowed and said, "Carol, are you having. . .sex with this man?"

Carol's eyes widen and Rakka thought for a second that she was going to get angry. Her cheeks redden and she looked away from Rakka. "No. Oh, no, we haven't. Samael says that sex is held more sacred if it is sealed with marriage."

Rakka felt weight settle in her chest despite the good news. A young Necromonger man had more morals than her and Riddick combined. It felt like a small blow to the chest.

"So you are not having sex at all?" Rakka asked.

Carol shook her head. "None. Sex is very important and I want it to be perfect when I do it my first time. You know like a fancy bedroom with a fluffy bed with silky sheets with soft music playing."

Rakka's mind flashed back to her first time. On the floor of a skiff lying on her back on a blanket with Riddick on top of her and the distance humming of the skiff's engine beneath her. She swallowed and stared at this sweet naïve girl. "Carol, I think that. . .sometimes now. . .sometimes sex is something that just happens without warning."

"Rape?"

"No! No! I don't mean rape. I meant that when your emotions take over." Rakka reached across the table and took Carol's hand in hers. "Your emotions are very strong. They can dictate to what you do and how you react to anything. And it is your emotions that can lead you into trouble when they take over and blow out common sense and morals. I know, it has happened to me."

Carol looked into the eyes of a woman that had had experience in life and with the topic they were discussing. She nodded her head, "I think I understand."

"I hope you do, Carol." Rakka said with a sad smile. "Because in a long run, it will save you a lot of heartbreak."

Carol ate her breakfast and left for school. Rakka sat at the kitchen table and thought about her life. If she had taken her own advice sixteen years ago, would she still be in this situation? She wouldn't have had Roland or Jack, but then she would never have had Riddick.

Would that have been such a bad thing? Knowing Riddick had brought her into danger, pain, and such emotional stress she wondered why she didn't have gray hair already.

She got up, made coffee, and sat back down with a mug. She nursed from it deep in thought. The door opened and Roland came in wearing a pair of jeans in need of washing and had holes in the knees and a black t-shirt. Whether he noticed the mark on her cheek, he didn't show it because he poured himself a cup of coffee without a word or comment.

Rakka looked a bit alarmed when he poured himself some coffee. He had never been interested in coffee before. She spotted his feet and noted that he was wearing dark shoes, not the socks or slip-ons he liked to wear around the house. He was planning on going somewhere.

He drained his mug and headed for the kitchen door.

"Where are you going?" Rakka asked.

"Out." He replied.

She swallowed a hard lump in her throat and said, "Out to find a job?"

Roland paused at the door. He stood there for almost a solid minute and then said, "Yeah."

"You might want to change your clothes. Nobody is going to hire you wearing dirty rags and take a shower." She inhaled through her nose and said, "Might as well take all the showers you can while your water is free."

"Fine." Roland said in a tone that was part anger, fear, and dread.

"And while you're out, ask Rera if there is something we need from town. Maybe if you go get it for her, I'll ask Riddick to shave off five UDs on your first bill."

"Okay."

"Roland, I lov. . ."

The door slammed before she could finish telling him she loved him.

* * *

Roland seethed while he drove down the street. He had taken his shower and changed into a clean pair of jeans and short sleeve white shirt. He had asked Rera if she needed anything and she told him to his face that she wouldn't take anything from him if she was starving to death and he offered the only loaf of bread within a hundred miles.

He had been shocked to see the tiny and timid maid speak to him like that. That didn't prepare him for when Ayamu saw him getting into the hover.

"What the hell are you doing?" The bodyguard approached the opened garage.

"Going out. Mom said it was fine." Roland replied as he slid himself into the driver's seat.

"That's what you said yesterday and guess what? You lied straight to my face. Get out."

Roland cursed under his breath and got out. "Go ask Mom, she's in the kitchen moping."

Ayamu punched him in the gut with the force of battering ram. Roland double over and felt as if he was going to vomit. Ayamu shoved his up against the hover by the collar and brought his face close to his.

"Now you look here, you stupid spoiled brat. You made me look like a complete IDIOT yesterday. I got chewed out by my cousin, Hera, last night, but she pulled some strings to let me be on probation because of your bullshit. One more slip up and I'm out of the Royal Guard which I worked very FUCKING hard all my life to get into."

He pulled Roland away and slammed him against the hover again. "Yesterday, when you lied to me, I thought, 'this is Princess Rakka Laotaner's son, there is no way he would lie' so I trusted you because you were Rakka's kid, turns out I was wrong. When I heard about what you did last night to her. . .you better thank God that I was outside on patrol and not there because I would have smeared you all over the goddamn floor. And I wouldn't be the only one either. Your Mom is somebody VERY important to the Hitomian race and we won't hesitate to take out her bastard son if he causes her harm."

With that, Ayamu spat on his shirt and flung his hands away from him as if he had touched something disgusting. He stalked out of the garage while Roland stared at his back stunned. He got back into the hover as if he was a robot and pulled out of the garage.

He traveled down the road with Ayamu's angry face and words swimming through his mind. Then he slowly became angry with everyone and himself. Why the hell is everyone acting as if he tried to cut his mother's heart out? He only hit her BY ACCIDENT. Damn, if she would just get off her back and leave him alone.

He parked the hover in front of a store and got out. He walked down the street toward a communication center. Thankfully it was small and somewhat rundown due to it not having very much business. So far for the last several weeks he had been what was keeping the place from closing.

He entered the center to the nose stinging smell of cigarette smoke and something else distasteful. The heavy set man behind the counter looked up from a magazine with a nude woman on the cover munching on a cigar.

"You again? Been a while." The man said through his cigar.

"I know." Roland slapped a card on the counter.

"Usual call?" The man asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"The same."

"Girlfriend?"

Roland grinned and said, "Aren't you not suppose to ask questions like that?"

The man shrugged his wide shoulders. "Gets boring. Jes curious of how you got enough money to make the kinds of calls you make the many times you do."

"Let's just say my parents are loaded." Roland said with a grim face.

"Lucky kid." The man scanned Roland's card and handed it back to him. "Booth in the back like usual."

"Thanks." Roland pocketed the card. He kept the card on his person at all times. He couldn't risk his mother or his 'father' or anyone else finding it and asking questions. If they knew that Chronis had given him a UD card worth twenty million UDs, they would hit the roof.

He hated it when Riddick supposedly lay down the law for him. Telling him he would have to pay for his utilities and rent from now on made his so angry. What right did this muscle bound bastard have the right to act like his father? And when Rakka backed him up this morning, it was more that he could stand.

It was a good thing that he had the UD card. He had over fifteen million left over on the card. He had been careful with the money. It would look suspicious if he walked in wearing a five thousand dollar jacket, so he used it wisely. Most of it went into making these calls, some of it went into eating lunch in town, and occasionally rented a few entertainment discs.

He didn't plan on getting a job at all. There was enough things around town to keep him entertain everyday. He planned on making up a lie about working somewhere, and then each week he would give Riddick the requested money he would withdraw from the card. But he would be careful though. He was suppose to be working at a minimum wage job so he would need to go through the hassle of how much water and power he used. It would look bad if the bill was expensive and he managed to pay it each week.

Damn, him, damn Riddick straight to hell. Everything was fine, great, before he came along. Every time that man came into their lives something gets screwed up. Mom has an affair, Dad dies, and now this bullshit. All of this. . .chaos in their family is because of Riddick.

It wouldn't last long. He would see to that. Once Riddick was gone, it would be better for everyone. And when Chronis did what he promised, things would go back to the way it should have been

He went to the far booth in the back. The booths were just big enough for a person to slip in and sit in the provided chair. They were completely soundproof for complete privacy and since he paid off the man behind the counter not to tell anyone about his visits.

He set the signal coordinates after making sure he was locked inside the booth. He had to wait several minutes for it to go through the channels and the distance. Then he received an acceptance of his signal. He watched the vid screen expectantly and placed the headphones on his head and listened.

Chronis' face appeared on the screen and he gave Roland a grandfatherly smile.

* * *

Rakka had hoped she would feel better later in the day, but she didn't. It felt as if some sort of fungus was growing inside her chest. She felt tried, despite the coffee and the hot shower she took after Roland left. She didn't even feel that she had the strength to get dressed properly. She stayed wearing a loose pair of pants with a long sleeve wool shirt.

Rera handled Jack for the rest of the day. Jack was as fussy today as he was yesterday during the terrible hours she spent worried about Roland. It was as if he sensed something wrong was going on.

At around noon, she was lying in her bed staring at the ceiling. Her mind kept repeating over and over the scenes she had with Roland. He wasn't the sweet boy she had left on Yari and she felt that she was never going to get him back. She had to have done something to cause this.

It had to be for all her sins. Killing those three men, the way she treated Terry, everything that had happened because of her.

The door opened and then the lights were turned off. There was enough grey light from the window to allow her to see. It was Riddick in his usual black material with his goggles pushed his up forehead. She watched him lock the door and approached her.

He wordlessly knelt onto the edge of the bed and touched the bottom of her shirt. Up it went, baring her breasts and then up and over her head. It was threaded off her arms and dropped onto the floor.

She stared up into his eyes as his hands smoothed up her ribs and along the curves of her breasts. She sucked in air through her mouth; suddenly feeling as if she had ran a long distance. His hands trail in reversal down her ribs and hooked her pants and underwear. It slipped easily down her hips and her thighs. Before too long it was on the floor along with her shirt.

"What are you doing?" She whispered. Question was why wasn't she doing or saying anything? This was so unlike her that it scared her.

Riddick did answer. He made his actions clear when he stretched his body above hers and slid his hips between her thighs. On the material of his pants separated her flesh from his.

Hand that had touched every crevices and valley of her body began to their long journey. She sighed as rough feeling of his calloused hands grazed her skin and she inhaled his scent. Despite her mood she was feeling the warmth of desire trickle downward inside her stomach.

She placed her hands on Riddick's face and pulled him down for a long kiss. She heard the familiar zip and jingle of his pants being undone. He pulled her downward beneath him and then the hot hard length slid inside her.

She inhaled deeply as he touched the very debts of her sex and the rumbling sigh of ecstasy blew on her face. She swallowed as he pulled out and slid back in, again, and again.

Several minutes later, she ejaculated. It drizzled over Riddick's member and oozed between her buttocks. He came deeply inside her and she heard the sigh of satisfaction that he emitted when he was finished.

He licked the bridge of her nose and pushed himself up off her. He sat up in the edge of the bed and snatched from tissues from a box on the bedside. He cleaned himself up and tossed the used tissues into a small waste basket placed near the bed. He stood and redid his pants.

Rakka lay on her side and watched him. He turned to her and finally said, "Rera says that lunch'll be ready in fifteen minutes. Actually five minutes now."

With that he left the bedroom.

Rakka stared at the far wall, her brow furrowed. Did Riddick went and have a quickie with her just to tell her that lunch would be served soon? That bastard.

She sat up and stormed to the bathroom to clean herself up. Her mind seethed as she wiped away the semen leaking from her with toilet paper. How dare he just. . .just take her like that! She supposed becoming his wife hasn't changed his attitude toward her very much.

She yanked on her clothes and she realized something. She hadn't worried about Roland since Riddick stepped into the room. Did Riddick have such an effect on her that she could easily forget all the problems around her? Did he know that she was up here in misery and came to temporarily relieve it and gave her something to be emotional about other than Roland?

She sat on the edge of the bed and thought about. She loved Roland and Riddick. Yet it was Roland that was making her take to her bed in tears and it was Riddick that got her out of it.

What a strange reversal of roles.

* * *

Ayamu stood outside the house smoking a cigarette. The rain had finally let up to a misty drizzle that didn't meddle with his lit cigarette. He could smell Rera's cooking from inside and he realized that he never knew that his little step-sister was a good cook.

Hera should be back soon and then he could go in and eat. The com at his hip vibrated. He took it up, opened it, and pressed it to his ear. "Ayamu."

"Hera. They're here."

Ayamu silently cursed. "How many?"

"I've seen two inside a bar. Musta snuck away to have a few drinks. There could be more though."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I confirmed their voice prints on my scanner. They apart of them, that's for sure."

"Did they see you?"

"I wore civilian clothes. I don't think they recognized me."

"Think they'll attack?"

"Definitely. Go ahead and let Riddick know."

"I will. The boy is still in town."

"Yes, I saw him. He went into a interplanetary call center."

"To find a job?"

"I don't know."

"I can mention it."

"No, probably not important. We have more important things to our our energy into right now. Just tell Riddick and do what he says. He has experience with situations like this."

"Think he'll call for backup?"

"I don't know."

"Ayamu out."

"Hera out."

* * *

In the middle of lunch, Roland came home. He appeared at the doorway of the kitchen while Rakka was feeding Jack and herself.

She looked up at him and offered him a smile. "Roland, honey, pull up a chair. Rera had prepared a very good salad and roast."

Roland wordlessly went to the counter where Rera had laid out the food and began preparing himself a plate.

"Roland, did you have any luck?" Rakka asked.

Roland, without replying, headed for the door leading into the hallway with a food laden plate.

"Roland." Rakka called.

"As a paying tenant, I have the right to take my meals in my room. If you feel it's necessary, then please tell Rera that I have two slices of roast and a small salad. Don't worry about drinks because I bought my own."

With that he left, taking Rakka's good mood with him.

* * *

Before dusk, she was giving Jack a diaper change, trying not to let this fog inside her head bring her down. Jack whined while she button up his one piece. He liked it when his clothes were taken off, but he hated it when they were put back on.

"Jack, honey, it's alright." Rakka said sweetly to him. "Everybody wears clothes."

Jack kicked his foot in helpless frustration as his mother's will won out over his own. She lifted him up into her arms and held him close while rocking him.

"Rakka."

She looked around to see Riddick standing in the bedroom doorway. "Yes?"

"Come with me."

"Okay." Rakka said.

"Drop the baby off with Carol and follow me outside."  
"Alright." She said feeling nervous. Riddick held a tight note in his voice and that always meant when he was concerned about something. And what was outside?

Carol was more than happy to baby sit Jack for a while. Rakka jokingly told her to remember that Jack wasn't a baby doll, but a real live baby with real tears boogers, urine, vomit, and crap instead of the ones that mimic those functions in cutesy Carol had played with as a child.

Rakka followed Riddick downstairs and out the back door. It was still drizzling, but the grass was soaked and it was difficult to step around the scattered puddles. Her slip-ons were soaked in no time.

Riddick glided easily over the wet grass and led her far into the back yard toward a wooded area. She was instantly reminded of Haven living on the campus when she met Riddick. It too had held a forest for a back yard.

Riddick halted her with a raised hand and she stopped. "Wait here."

He entered the woods, brushing a low hanging branch out of his way. She waited, hugging herself from the cold. She listened out for Riddick returning and wondered what he needed to do in the woods that she couldn't see or be around him. She knew for a fact that he wasn't taking a piss. It was something he would never have minded doing it in front of her.

Five minutes past, then ten minutes. She stepped and was about to call his name when he emerged from the darkness. That was the only way to describe it. His face molded from it, his silvery eyes gleamed in the gray light of day and he grinned at her yelp of surprise.

"Follow me and try to step where I step and try not to pull on too many branches." He submerged back into the dark shadow of the branches.

Rakka hesitated and then followed him. It was very dim and hard for her to see. Luckily, Riddick was a large enough shape to follow and his boots left easy to find imprints in the mud. She ducked her head beneath branches and sometimes her hair got caught and tangled with the wet leaves.

They finally came to the clearing. At the edge of the clearing was a steep slope that looked fifteen feet high at least. It was red with clay and looked like a giant wet sponge.

Riddick motioned toward the slope and said, "Think you kin climb this?"

Rakka stared at him. "What?"

"Do you think you can climb up this?" Riddick repeated patiently. Riddick being patient. . .scary.

Rakka looked at it and imagine sinking her fingers into the clay and pushing and pulling herself upwards. "Yes, I could if I had to. The question is why would I have to?"

Riddick looked at her and said, "Hera saw some members of the Closed Eye in town."

Rakka felt her blood chill inside her veins. She inhaled deeply through her nose and said, "And you think they'll attack?"

"Maybe." Riddick replied. "I set up traps."

Rakka stared at him. "You were undoing them so I could walk through?"

"Yeah, gonna set 'em back up though. Tell Carol and Roland not to come out here."

"Carol will listen, but Roland won't."

"He will if he knows what the deal is."

Rakka shook her head. "No, I don't want to worry him."

"Better he's scared shitless inside the house instead of stompin' out here and get his head fuckin' cut off."

Rakka shuddered as an unholy image shot through her brain. "Alright. What is it about this slope?"

It's high up and this is the only good place it climb it. Keep goin' straight and you'll hit the highway. Hitch a ride if ya can and get to town. There's a skiff prepped with a pilot paid and on standby to take you to the Basilica. You'll be safe there."

Rakka nodded. Anyone would have to be insane to attack the Basilica head on. "So what do we do?"

"I had Hera buy a baby backpack for you to carry Jack. I want you to tell Carol and Roland to sleep with their pants on and shoes ready tonight."

"What about Hera and Ayamu?" Rakka asked.

"They're gonna pull a double shift tonight. I'm gonna stay inside. When the shit starts happening, you do as I say. I want to clear out the bedroom closet. It's wide enough for you, Rera, and the kids." Riddick licked his upper lip and said, "Got the shiv?"

It was the shiv he gave her long ago. She nodded suddenly finding it hard to breath.

"Let's go back. Lot we gotta do before the sun sets."

"Riddick, I'm scared."

"I know. I can smell it."

She ignored the last part and said, "Riddick, what do you think our chances are?"

"Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"We're going to kick ass."

Rakka a touch comforted by this, but she continued, "Why can't we just get on a skiff and go back onto the Basilica or just leave?"

"If they see us loadin' up and leavin', they're gonna know that we found out that they're there and they may do somethin' stupid. Like attack the hover we're riding or the landing port. That happens I'm gonna have to call in reinforcements and imagine how this planet is gonna react to Necros falling from the sky. There'll be a worldwide panic and when the smoke settles you and the Hitomian government going to be blamed for it all. As far as I can see, that's a load of shit you can't handle."

Riddick shifted his boots and said, "Also, we stand a better chance with the house for a defense. They HAD the cover of the woods, but I took care of that." Riddick's teeth gleamed when he smiled. "Ayamu and Hera are trained for shit like this and you know me."

Rakka felt a touch better, but still, who can feel good knowing that there are people out to kill them and they may be making an attempt that night.

Riddick turned toward the way they came and said, "Go on back to the house and get everything ready."

"What are you going to do?"

"Gonna reset the traps behind you."

* * *

Rakka made to back to the house despite feeling numb and empty of everything except fear. The news Riddick gave her made all the problems she had with Roland seem so trivial. She stumbled inside the backdoor and surprised Carol who was playing with Jack on the couch.

"Aunt Rakka? You look like you fell down!" Rakka's hair was wet and tangled with various leaves sticking out. Her shoes were covered in mud and her face was wet and looked pale and sallow.

_"I look like I've fallen down." _Rakka thought to herself. "Carol, listen, I need you to hand Jack over to Rera and go upstairs. Pack one of two changes of clothes. Pants and shirt, nothing fancy, but durable. Tell Roland to do the same and then come back downstairs and wait for me. I have something I need to tell you."

Carol looked at Rakka with wide eyes. "Are we moving?"

"We might be, but I'll tell you what's going on."

"Roland might not. . ."

"Tell him that it is a matter of life or death."

Carol stared at her in shocked, her mouth opened in an O. Rakka scraped her feet hastily on the rug and went upstairs.

She wasn't in the mood for a shower, so she shook the leaves from her hair and brushed it straight and changed. She wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt. She even put on socks and shoes.

She then went to the closet and began throwing things out. She threw everything into a pile outside the closet in a nearby corner. She cast out shoes, jackets, and shirts that needed to be hung up. She went to the towel closet in the high way and grabbed several blankets and spread them out on the floor inside the closet. She even placed Jack's carrier inside it.

Then she went downstairs to tell the teens the danger that could he coming tonight.

When she got downstairs, both Carol and Roland were sitting side by side on the couch. Carol was nervously hugging a bag, which must contain her clothes, close to her chest while Roland leaned back in his seat with his knees apart and hands folded behind his head.

She moved around the couch to face them and gave them a somewhat encouraging smile. "Guys, there's something you should know. Something that went along with me becoming a princess."

She told them about the Closed Eye group. About their desire for the revolution of the Hitomian Ruling Family and how that if Rakka had another baby, an heir for the Laotaner Family, would destroy everything that they are trying to accomplish.

"Then don't have another baby!" Roland said leaning forward when Rakka was finished.

Carol stared at Rakka in complete shock. Her lips were parted, but she said nothing.

"It's not that simple." Rakka had taken a seat in one of the arm chairs. "The court is pressuring me into having another baby."

"You're the princess. Tell them no." Roland snapped.

"Being a princess brings responsibilities that I can't say no to." Rakka replied evenly.

Roland leaned backwards on the couch and looked at Rakka as if he didn't believe her. "I can't believe that I may be killed because a bunch of old geezers want you get to knocked up. . . again."

That was it. Rakka didn't know what happened next, but her hand was stinging and she was standing over Roland whose face was red and he was staring at her in amazement.

She leaned forward and heard herself growling, "Roland, you have been hateful, ugly, and mean to me since I step in through that door. You have every right to be angry with me and even hate me, but goddammit, during a situation like this you will FUCKING respect me or, so help me God, I will make you wish that these Closed Eye fuckers will shoot your rotten brains out."

She shoved herself away and felt so drain, as if the anger had sucked the last of her energy. Roland shoved himself up from the couch and fled the living room. Carol looked sickly pale and her body shook as she had suffered a great shock. . . which she no doubt did.

Rakka sank into the arm chair and felt the years welling up. "Carol, I am so sorry you had to see that."

Carol shook her head. "No, Roland has been asking for that for a long time."

Rakka dropped her face into her hands and sobbed. Carol lifted herself from her seat and touched her shoulder, comforting her.

* * *

Roland went into his room. He hated himself for the tears that threatened to fall. God, he had been punched, kicked, cut, and beaten by Necromongers and he hadn't cried, but when his mother slapped him, it felt as if he had broken into a hundred pieces.

He punched the wall a few times and imagined it was Rakka. That's what he should have done, punched her across the face, lay her ass out on the floor. It's all her fault anyway, all the shit that happened was because of her and she knows it.

Before he could kick the wall next, there was a knock on the door. If it was the bitch coming to apologize than she could go straight to hell. He sat on the bed planning to ignore it.

It came again, except it was harder and more demanding somehow. He looked at the door confused. If it was his mother she would tell him it was her.

"It's open." He said cautiously.

The door swung open and Riddick was standing in the doorway. Roland got to his feet. "Here to kick my ass too?"

Riddick raised an eyebrow and said, "Why would I want to kick your ass? And who did it?"

"Mom."

"About damn time."

"Get the hell out."

"Here." Riddick held out a staff. It was a Necromonger staff with a blade on one end and a sharp spear like point on the other. It was the same staff Roland had used to try to kill Riddick.

Roland stared at it before he slowly lifted a hand and accepted it. He hadn't seen it in months and it was still in good condition, someone had taken care of it. "Why are you giving me this?"

"I saw you fight. You're good, rough around the edges, but good." Riddick also held out a Necro gun.

Roland swallowed and accepted it too. It was the same gun he had trained with. "I don't understand."

Riddick offered him a clip of ammo which he accepted too. "Look, kid, I was lyin' to your mom earlier to keep her from havin' a stroke. It's bad. The Closed Eye has been doin' their job very well. I spotted some of them movin' in the woods. There's a lot. Hera and Ayamu are good, but they can't do much against a small army in the dark. We can only hope that the traps can confuse them or at lower their number to what we can handle. I'm stayin' in the house to keep them out, but I need you to back me up."

Roland stared at Riddick to see if he was joking. He wasn't. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. Can you handle it?"

"Yeah." Roland said.

"Yeah?" Riddick cocked an eyebrow.

Roland straightened into attention and said, "Yes sir."

"I want you to stay close to your mom and brother. And also Carol and Rera. If anythin' we want 'em to survive so you are their last line of defense. Anythin' happens to me or Ayamu and Hera, it's up to you to get them on that skiff to the Basilica alive, so NO suicide missions. You kin take care of 'em better alive than dead."

"Yes sir." Roland said. It felt as if he was back on the Necromonger training arena in front of his instructor.

"And don't tell Rakka about this, she'll pitch a bitch fit if she finds out. You keep that staff and gun outta sight until I say it's time."

"Yes sir." Roland said nodding his head.

"That will be all." Riddick dismissed him.

Roland caught himself before he saluted him. He nodded his head and stepped backwards into his room and shut the door. He went to hide the staff, gun, and ammo under his bed and then changed his clothes. He needed something better to move easier in order to fight with all the skills he had acquired during his time with the Necros.

Riddick returned to the bedroom to check out Rakka's handiwork. He licked that she cleared out the closet and laid some blankets inside on the floor for comfort. He went ahead and set the baby backpack Hera had purchased from the town.

He stood straight and said, "What's pissing you off now?"

Ayamu was standing in the bedroom doorway staring at him with narrow eyes. "There aren't that many Closed Eye people out there. We can handle them just fine and I KNOW you don't need back up. So why you would wanna give that little ass some weapons?"

"Because that little ass is stupid and piss." Riddick replied. "When the shit hits the fan, he's gonna do something stupid unless we give 'im something to make him feel important. Or doin' somethin'."

Ayamu still wasn't satisfied. "You trust that little punk not to stab you in the back with that staff?"  
Riddick shrugged his large shoulders and said, "If he tries it, I'll kick his ass."

Ayamu shifted his feet and said, "It surprised me the way he changed his attitude when you pulled the whole military bit on him."

"Hey, I was just like him once upon a time. Military straightened my ass out for a while. He's like me more than we knew."

* * *

Carol didn't want to sleep in her room and Rakka didn't blame her. Carol had walked around the house pale and shaken. She jumped and sometimes yelped when someone suddenly slammed the door or there was a sudden noise. One time she burst into tears and Rakka had to hold her till she felt better.

Rera was much the same. Her hands shook and she kept muttering to herself incoherent things. Rakka believed them to be prayers.

Roland stayed in his room doing God knows what. He seemed quiet and somewhat energetic as if he looked forward to the attack. Jack was the same baby as he always been. It was as if he didn't know the coming danger.

Ayamu and Hera were outside doing whatever needed to be to get ready for a siege. Riddick stayed inside and barricaded the doors and boarded up the windows. He even set up some traps at some of the doors which remained unset for now.

That night found them sitting in the living room together watching the vid or perhaps in the act of watching the vid. Rakka sat between Rera and Carol holding Jack and alternated between holding Rera's hand and Carol's hand. Roland sat in the opposite arm chair with the bruise that matched Rakka's.

Roland was wearing what she had changed into earlier and the others had changed into more comfortable clothes. Rera borrowed a pair of jeans from Rakka and a t shirt from Carol. Roland had chosen to change into a pair of loose shorts to hung to his knee and a tight fitting white undershirt.

Rakka stared at him. He was sitting back in his chair in a relax sort of way, not on the edge of his seat like Rera and Carol. The anger he had shown to Rakka was gone and replaced with something else. Rakka wanted to ask him if he was alright, but thought it better not to stir that hornet's nest.

"I can't take this." Carol whimpered and Rakka instantly took her hands in hers.

"Carol, it'll be alright." Rakka said soothingly.

"I can't take the waiting." Carol said rubbing her forehead with the heel of her hands. "I keep looking at that clock and it feels like an hour for each minute."

"Then don't look at it."

"I keep wondering if I'm going to live through tonight. If I'm never going to go back to school next week."

"You will. Carol, listen to me." Rakka put an arm around her and hugged her against her shoulder. "You never seen Riddick fight. I've seen him in a room full of men wanting to do harm to him and he was the one to walk out in one piece. And Hera and Ayamu are top members of the Royal Guard, why Hera is Captain of the Guard in fact. They know exactly what they're doing and they've been in situations like this before. We'll just do as they say when they tell us and we'll be just fine."

Carol swallowed and nodded her head. She leaned her head against Rakka's shoulder and seemed to be a bit better. Rakka felt Rera sidle closer to her. She had become their pillar of strength during this harsh time.

Jack was gumming a toy he held tightly in his hand. Rakka kissed the top of his head and inhaled his baby scent. He dropped his toy and began to whine for it. Before Rakka could bend forward to pick up the toy, Roland leaned forward out of his chair and snatched up the toy and offered to Jack. Slowly Jack took it back and went back to happily gumming it.

"Thank you, Roland." Rakka said sitting back.

"No problem." Roland replied leaning backwards into the armchair.

Rakka looked at her son and wondered if this was a turning point. She felt a bit better now.

Riddick stepped in the living room and said the words they had been dreading. "Ya'll go upstairs quietly and get in that closet and shut the door. Roland."

Rakka looked at Roland who practically jump to his feet and headed upstairs. She lifted herself and Jack up and was followed by Carol and Rera. They followed her mechanically out of the living room and up the stairs.

As she past Roland's bedroom, she saw him inside reaching under his bed. She stopped and said, "Roland?"

Roland pulled a staff and a gun out from under his bed.

"Roland, what the hell are those?"  
Carol and Rera surged forward on either side of her to see.

"Mom, don't get mad." Roland said as he stuffed the gun in his waistband.

"Don't get mad? I'm about out of my mind!" Rakka snapped. "Where did you get those? Have you been hiding them?"  
"Riddick gave them to me earlier. He needs my help."

"Roland, don't you like to me. Not during a situation like this."

"He ain't lyin'." Riddick appeared at the head of the stairs. "I gave them to him earlier. He's gonna be downstairs with me."

"No, he's not." Rakka said with finality dripping in her voice. "He is going in that closet with us."

"Mom. . ." Roland started, but Rakka stopped him by shifting Jack to her hip and held up a hand.

"No, Roland, give those. . .those. . .things to Riddick right now and come with me to the closet."

Roland shook his head. "No, Mom, just go into the closet, please."

If Rakka hadn't been holding Jack at that time, she would have slapped the hell out of Roland. Or possibly Riddick.

Roland moved to pass her, but she caught his arm. "Roland, I mean it. Don't you DARE take a step toward those stairs."

"Mom. . ."

"NO! Riddick, how can you do this?"

"Rakka, let 'im go." Riddick's voice rumbled against her.

Before she could say anything, they heard echo of gunfire from outside. Everyone froze except Riddick who cursed under his breath and stalked forward. He grabbed Rakka's wrist and before she could react, he forced her to release Roland. She started to say something, but he roughly guided her to their bedroom. "Roland, go on downstairs and wait for me, but keep low and away from the windows."

Roland nodded and headed downstairs.

"Roland!" Rakka called. "Come back here! Roland! Don't go!"

She was being dragged to the bedroom by a strong wrist. She struggled to yank her arm free and go after her son.

"Rakka, dammit, yer gonna drop Jack." Riddick hissed at her.

She tightened her grip around Jack who was starting to whine. They were taken into the bedroom. "How could you do this?"

"Rakka, I'm gonna be right there with him. Nothin' is gonna happen to him."

She was pushed into the closet and she was followed by Rera and Carol who had been bystanders of the drama.

"There is a gun in one of the shelves." Riddick told her as Carol ad Rera urged her to sit between them.

"No, Riddick, you get Roland back up here now!" She handed Jack to Rera and moved to get step out of the closet.

Riddick leaned into the closet and shoved her so hard backwards that her back slapped the back of the closet knocking the air out of her. Carol and Rera gasped in unison while Jack began to wail.

Riddick stepped into the closet and stood towering over her. His frame nearly filled the closet intimating all three women. "Bitch, I got over a dozen fuckers out their wantin' to come in and ghost yer ass, fuck, ghost everybody if they can. And yer makin' it easier for 'em by actin' like a bitch and not lettin' me do my job. If I think Roland can handle it, he can handle it. So sit yer ass down and shut the hell up or I'm gonna knock you unconscious and then go."

"Riddick, he's just a boy." She whispered beseechingly to him.

"All boys grow up into men sometime." Then the closet door was slammed in her face.

She stared at the closet stunned and listened to the dull hum inside her head. She felt something pulling on her hand and she didn't know what it was. She could only concentrate on the closet door.

"Aunt Rakka. . .Aunt Rakka. . ."

Who was that calling her name?

"Aunt Rakka, please sit down. Roland can fight too. I've seen him train and he's good, though I shouldn't judge because I was never taught how to fight before."

It was Carol. Carol was talking to her.

"Aunt Rakka, it's. . .it's going to be alright. Please, sit down."

She lowered her body against the wall and enjoyed the sensation of taking pressure off her legs. She curled her legs to her chest and felt as if her soul was draining away through her stomach.

She a touch her shoulder and she leaned over to lay her head in Carol's lap. Carol stroked her hair and leaned her head against the wall. Rera put her energy into keeping Jack contented, amused, and happy.

An hour passed. Rakka couldn't tell whether she had fallen asleep or had been awake. Carol was wearing a digital watch with which she put on silent. They jumped when more gunshots were heard. They were outside, but closer.

Images of Roland being shot, lying dead on the floor with a bullet in his brain flashed through. She moved to stand, to go outside and see if Roland was alive. Her arms were caught by Rera and Carol. She was going to tell them to let her go, then a shatter of glass breaking chilled her to the bone.

Cracking and banging of furniture breaking could be heard and distant yells. Rakka threw herself backwards into the wall. Carol clutched her arm and Rera started whimpering prayers under her breath. Jack began to whine, so Rakka took him into her arms and held him tightly.

The sounds continued for five minutes and then silenced. The three women held their breath. Just waiting for the sounds of footsteps on the stairs. The steps that would signal their deaths.

It played out in Rakka's mind. The door being thrown open and dark image of a man holding a gun and firing.

She hated Riddick. How dare he make them go through this? He should have put them up in town where there were police and other people to help protect them. Or taken to them to the Basilica, where they would have to sit and wait in a closet scared for their lives.

And Roland, was he alright? She wanted him back here with her where she can know that he was alive and well. He should be out there with the gunshots and the crashing and yelling. He should be in here with her, in her arms with Jack.

Another hour pass. Carol had fallen asleep, her head against Rakka's shoulder. Rera was too scared to sleep. She prayed on and off. Rakka cradled a sleeping Jack in her arms.

Another hour passed and the door opened.

Rakka must have been asleep, for that when the door opened, she was brought out of darkness so fast that it was like looking through a fog. Rera screamed and Carol gripped her arm so hard it hurt.

Riddick was standing in the doorway and he gave Rera a hard look for screaming. And then lowered his large frame into the closet and onto the floor. The women had to move their feet back to give him room. He shut the door behind him and leaned his back against the right side shelved were folded clothes were placed along with the extra diapers and bottles for Jack.

Jack, having been awakened by Rera's scream, began to make choke sobs which led to his screeching wails. Riddick held out his hands and Rakka reflexively handed the sobbing infant to him. He held Jack on his lap and Rakka could ear him muttering something to the baby. Jack quieted and shifted his limbs irritably.

"Where's Roland?" She finally found her voice.

"With Ayamu and Hera. They're makin' sure its clear."

"What happened?" Carol whispered. "We heard gunshots and crashes downstairs and a window breaking. . ."

Riddick silenced her with a growl in his throat and said, "Later."

Rakka looked at him and knew it was bad outside. He was just there to protect or guide them to the highway.

She swallowed and ignored the rising terror rising in her chest. "Carol, go back to sleep. Riddick's here so we're going to be fine."

Riddick's presence greatly lowered the fear and stress in the closet. Few minutes later, both Rera and Carol were sleeping leaning against her. She was tired too, but she couldn't sleep, not even if she tried to. Her nerves wouldn't let her.

"How bad is it?" She whispered.

"They almost got upstairs." Riddick replied in a low purr. "Roland stopped 'em."  
"Roland?"

"I stationed him near the stairs. He was good, but one slipped by him. Got halfway up, but Roland shot 'im in the back. Smart kid kept his gun hidden till he needed it."

Rakka felt her soul rush out her in horror. "He killed someone?"

"Yes."

"How did he. . .react?"

"Didn't react, jes got ready for the fucker that wanted to try him."

"Oh God." She whimpered.

"Rakka, lissen, those fuckers would have and right now tryin' to come up here and ghost your ass and Carol's, Rera's, and Jack's. He's doin' downstairs no less then what you woulda done and have done before."

Rakka felt her body shiver and she held Jack closer to her chest. "What happens next?"

"We think there's gonna be a bigger wave of attack comin'. Riddick said.

"What makes you think that? How do you know that this is it?"

"We'd be stupid not to." Riddick replied leaning his head back against the shelves. "Hera has dealt with these people and knows how they work. They attack in waves, not in one big force. They try to use stealth first with the first wave, but Hera and Ayamu busted that up. What you heard downstairs was the second wave which we took care of. Now we're waitin' for the third wave which comes after we're tired from fighting the first two. It's the biggest and best armed."

"Can you handle it?"

"Yeah. We got the advantage. They don't know what part of the house you are in and we're hopin' that they hadn't figured out yer upstairs yet."

"What's to keep them from using missiles? Or bazookas?" She had to ask even though the thought terrified her.

"Number of things. They don't want the local police involved or they're afraid that if they make too much noise or some shit, that'll bring the Necros and they KNOW they don't stand a chance against 'em."

"Well, that is some relief."

"Not really. There's always some stupid or overexcited fucker with a big gun somewhere."

Rakka didn't feel relieved after all. She shifted her body, nearly stirring Rera and Carol.

"Let's be quiet now. Got any more questions, save 'em for mornin'." Riddick bent his legs and made himself comfortable.

If we make to morning.

"Get some sleep, Rakka."

At first, she thought she couldn't get to sleep. Yet, when she laid her head back, she drifted into the soothing darkness of sleep.

She woke up to see that nothing has change, except Carol had somehow ended up in a ball on the floor fast asleep beside Rakka's legs. Rera was slumped over against her shoulder, Jack was sleeping peacefully and Riddick was still in his same position.

Her neck was sore and her limbs felt cramped and sore. She even felt a bit claustrophobic. She shifted to get more comfortable and Jack whimpered in his sleep.

"Stay still." Riddick said hissed.

Rakka froze. She knew that tone. She listened and she could hear footsteps in the hallway.

Riddick moved. He moved as if he muscles in places that humans didn't have muscles. Without a sound, no shuffling or creaking, or even disturbing Carol or Rera, he stood opened the closet door and stepped out.

Rakka held her breathe while her heart pounded so hard that she feared it would wake Jack up and start his wails. She spotted Carol's wristwatch and stared at it. It was 2:00 in the morning, still hours from sunrise. It seemed as though the second counter was slow. Each time it flipped to the next second felt like a minute.

30 seconds past. A minute passed. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes.

Her ears pricked for any noise, anything at all. She even begged for there to be noise so she knew what to expect next. Then she heard the footsteps. Her heart stopped.

The door open and it was Riddick. He stood back from the closet's light protecting his light sensitive eyes. He remained in the darkness which he found more comfortable.

"We're going."

She stared at him as if unsure of what he said. "Wha. . .?"

"C'mon. Wake up the others. Hera is in the hover waiting."

"The hover? That's going to be a tight squeeze for the seven of us." She murmured.

"Not all of us are goin'. Ayamu, Roland, and I are staying behind to clean up and maybe get some information from any survivors."

Carol whimper from her position on the floor and pushed her up into a sitting position. "What. . .is going on?"

"Carol, honey, we're going to go into town now, but we have to be quiet now." Rakka whispered to her.

Carol leaned against the wall and pushed herself to her feet. She stretched her limbs and asked, "Does this mean its over?"

"I don't know." Rakka said not glancing at Riddick while she struggle to her feet and waking Rera at the same time. The maid yelped as if coming out of a bad dream.

Riddick waited in the dark bedroom while the women stretched out their cramp limbs and rubbed any aches they had. Carol stepped forward out of the closet first.

"It's dark." She commented as she squinted her eyes to see.

"Don't turn on the lights." Riddick ordered. Rakka swallowed and had to silently agree with him. Whatever happened downstairs was something they would all rather not see.

"Let's go." Riddick said.

Rera picked up the baby things that had been stuffed into a bag and placed in the closet incase Jack needed them. Riddick led them outside with Carol first, Rakka with Jack behind her, and Rera last.

It was dark, but Rakka's eyes were adjusting. In the hallway wall, she saw a red splatter on the wall and she knew better than to try to study it. She'd only hoped that Carol nor Rera noticed it. They didn't notice the blood, but they did notice something worse.

Carol shrieked and stumbled backwards into her making Jack yell. "He's dead. He's dead. He's dead."

Ahead of them was a dead body stretched across the hall. Her dark adjusting eyes made out the man easily by the dim light within the house. The man had to be around thirty years old with dark hair lightly sprayed with bits of gray. He wore what resembled a black military uniform. On his shoulder he wore an armlet with an emblem of a pale oval with black lines at the bottom. A Closed Eye. His face looked cleaned and he didn't have a beard nor was his face peppered with stubbles. His hair was slicked back from his forehead with gel.

He was the sort of man that liked to make a clean appearance. This morning, when he woke up, took a shower, and carefully shaved so there were no nicks or bloody scabs on his clean jaw, that he was going to die tonight while trying to murder a woman? Rakka would never know.

"C'mon." Riddick said over his shoulder and continued onward.

Carol wasn't going forward. Her eyes remained on the corpse and her body was trembling. Riddick got the head of the staircase and looked back at the halted girl. Rakka saw that his jaws were tightening. They were in a hurry after all. Rakka didn't know why, there might have been some complications that involved them being evacuated as soon as possible.

"Carol, honey, we got to go." Rakka whispered softly to her.

"He's across the hall." Carol whimper.

"Then just step over him. He's dead, Carol, he won't care. He'll never care about anything that happens on the world again."

That seemed to make the ordeal better for Carol for that she quickly stepped over the corpse and Rakka soon follow. Rera hesitated, but she quickly followed after Rakka took her hand in hers and she too quickly stepped over the corpse. They seemed to want to run away, keeping their ankles out of reach of it. Rakka was sure that they were envisioning the limp hand to spring up and catch their ankles as seen in so many horror films.

Rakka knew better. Dead was dead. If you were dead you were not there and your body only moved if someone else moved you. She learned this lesson all too well years ago in a cell trapped with a dead body.

Riddick was already down the stairs when they got to the top of them. There three dead bodies on the stairs. One had a bloody hole in his back right were his heart was. Roland's kill.

They had to weave through them. Carol whimpered and Rera prayed while Rakka concentrated on getting down the stairs. She was starting to get annoyed with them.

When she got downstairs, even she had to gasp with them at the mess. Vid was smashed, furniture was broken in heaps, and glass littered the floor. Carol began to sob and Rakka put an arm around her back. This was hardest for her for that the last month this house had been her home.

"Let's go, Carol." Rakka whispered to her while rubbing her back.

They made it through the kitchen and into the garage after treading through the wreckage and stepping carefully on the broken glass.

"Try not to step on large pieces." Rakka had said.

Hera was sitting in the driver's seat. Her carefully braided hair looked ragged with tufts of brown hair being yanked out of the cord of braid. She had a rip along her shoulder and some sort of armor could be seen underneath the shirt and her clothes looked dirty and grass stained as if she had rolled in the yard. She even had a cut along her jaw either from a sharp weapon or a bullet graze, Rakka couldn't tell.

Rakka opened the door for the front passenger seat, but Hera shook her head and said, "Get in the back and squat on the floor board. We don't want you seen. I'm going to drive carefully, but fast."

Carol slipped in first and then Rakka. Rera set the baby bag on the seat and hunched inside beside Rakka. Jack whimpered and whined about the discomfort of being squeezed between Rakka's stomach and the edge of the seat. She shifted him around to get him more comfortable.

Rera groaned painfully as she hunched over the seat and Rakka swore she heard her knees creak. She looked sadly at the maid who had unwillingly went on her first trip through space, nearly had a panic attack about being placed in cryo due to her claustrophobia, had to deal with Rakka's unruly son, and had to spend the night in a closet with the threat of being killed hovering around her head.

A thought occurred to Rakka and she leaned toward Rera and whispered, "How were you doing in the closet? I know you have claustrophobia."

Rera shook her head and offered her a smile. "It wasn't something I liked, but I was more scared of the attackers than I was of enclosed spaces. And it wasn't that bad compared to the cryo and you two were there and I also had Hera and Ayamu telling me not to be a bother anymore."

Rakka gave her arm a squeeze and said, "When I get the chance, the next time you get paid, I am going to triple your wages starting from when we left for Refu. You have truly earned it."

Rera's eyes glowed despite the dimness of the garage and she whispered a small thank you. Rakka turned her attention to Carol who had her face buried into the seat.

"Honey, are you alright?" Rakka asked and ran her fingers through her hair.

Carol lifted her head and whispered. "We're never coming back here are we?"

Rakka knew the answer in her heart and told Carol the truth. "No, baby, we're never going to come here again."


	69. Forever

The ride was fortunately uneventful. By the time they got to a hotel in the town, they were sore, cramped, and miserable. Rera was breathing hard as if trying to fight off panic. Rakka had Carol and herself scoot over to give her as much space as possible. It had gotten so bad that Hera had no choice, but to allow Rera to sit up in the seat, but she was told to keep her head down.

They were thrilled when they arrived at the hotel. Hera made them remain in the hover while she went inside to make sure it was clear and there were rooms available. She came back twenty minutes later and gave them an okay sign.

All three women got out and stretched their limbs painfully. Jack seemed to take pleasure of being out in the open air before they stepped into the hotel. They rode the elevator up to their floor and entered the room.

It was one room, but it held two beds and a small counter with a freezing unit and heating unit for food. It also had a decent size bathroom with a tub and shower with a small sink near the toilet.

Carol collapse onto a bed and said, "This feels so much better than the floor."

"So ahead and get ready for bed." Rakka said as she settled Jack on her lap while she in a chair. There was a small round table in the corner of the room with three chairs. "Rera, bring that bag over here, Jack needs a change."

Rera brought the bag over and set it on the table. "I can change him for you. You've been holding him all night."

Rakka shook her head and kissed Jack's head and said, "I don't mind holding him. Go to bed. The danger is over now."

Rera nodded and kicked off her shoes. She crawled under the covers beside Carol who had already removed her shoes and pants and was under the covers fast asleep.

Rakka looked up at Hera and said, "When do you think everyone will be here?"

Hera shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Definitely after sunrise. I'm staying for tonight. I have my com incase they need help, but I doubt they'll need me for the rest."

Rakka spread a blanket on the table and gently placed Jack on it and reached for the diapers inside the bag. "Hera, after everything is taken care of, what happens next?"

Hera took a deep breath and pulled a up a chair to the table. "It's truly up to you, Princess. I can only give you a recommendation."

"Give me one." Rakka said as she unsnapped Jack's one piece.

"My advice would be to at least leave Refu. The Closed Eye knows you're here and no doubt any survivors are going to be watching you to see where you'll go. My advice is go to somewhere you'll be heavily protected."

"Like go back to Refuge?"

Hera nodded. "I'm going to make a call to the nearest post of military security and request that they lend star fighters to give you escort back to Refuge as a VIP."

Rakka nodded. "I understand."

Hera looked relieved as if she had expected Rakka to disagree. "I'm glad that you agree."

"Maybe I'm too tired to disagree." Rakka replied as she finished up changing Jack. She tossed the dirty diaper into a nearby waste basket.

* * *

Rakka went to bed with Jack in her arms. She had never slept with Roland coddled against her. Since Hera was going to stay up and stand guard at the door, she made her promise to keep an eye on Jack and prevent her from rolling on top of him or him rolling off the edge of the bed.

When she woke, at around 9:00, Jack wasn't by her side. She sat up with a small gasp of terror snapping out of the grogginess of sleep. She looked around the room to see Riddick holding Jack and giving him a bottle.

Riddick looked a bit ruffle. There were dark stains on his shirt and pants and she hoped that they were grass stains and not blood. He had a shallow scratch on his arm that already scabbed over and a few bandages around his fingers. He even had a small scratch on his cheek.

"Riddick." She gasped. She stared with relief at Jack, who was hungrily drinking milk, for a few moments. "Where is Roland?"

"Next door." Riddick replied. "I made everyone go over there. We need to talk."

"At least tell if Roland is alright."

"He's fine." Riddick said. "No serious injuries."

"I hope so." Rakka replied as she swung her feet over the edge of the bed. She wore only a pair of panties and her sweatshirt. She felt Riddick give her a once over with his eyes as she grabbed her jeans.

"I'm going back to the Basilica and I'm goin' away and you may never see me again." Riddick said shifting Jack to his other arm for comfort. "The divorce papers are on the table. All you need to do is sign 'em."

Rakka stood, frozen in place. It was as if Riddick had uttered a magical charm or spell that had turned her into a statue. Rakka spotted the papers and at the bottom of the first page was Riddick's signature along the line. Below his was where hers was needed to complete and seal it. She stood stunned with bare legs and her jeans hanging from her hand.

"What?"

Riddick gave her an annoyed look and said, "We already talked about this."

"I know." She replied feeling so loss.

"Hera's request for military escort came through. They're on their way and they'll be here in five hours."

Rakka couldn't reply. She sat back down on the bed and stared at the papers. She knew that this was going to happen and she had dreaded. Now that it was happening, truly happening, she felt full. Full of anger, sadness, loss, and abandonment all wrapped together into one large ball inside her stomach.

"Are you going now?"

"Yeah." Riddick replied, "There's a written agreement on the following pages. Everything you had before we married is yours so is everything that was mine. I'm giving you 250 million UDs for all the years of child support I missed on Roland and for Jack till he turns eighteen."

"I don't care about the money." She whispered.

"I don't want you to use child support as an excuse to keep me." He replied.

That was true. She would have.

She heard him walk across the room and Jack was push into her arms gently. Her arm reflexively held the bottle for Jack, who was happily and completely oblivious to what was happening between his parents, sucked hungrily on the nipple. She wrapped her arms around his as if he was a lifeline to being. Her body felt empty, as if she had no soul, no emotion, nothing.

She felt something warm on her cheek that was slow yet brief at the same time. Riddick's last kiss to her.

She heard the footsteps and the door open and close.

That was it. He was gone. Out of her life, it was something she had wanted for so long during one part of her life and now. . .

The tensely strung strong inside that had been strung tightly from the stress of last night snapped in half.

She broke down and cried.

* * *

Roland sat in the hotel room polishing his staff. He had slight injuries. A black eye, a few bruised ribs, and a few cuts and scrapes. He was proud of himself last night. He had killed at least five guys and wounded ten that would have died of the injuries he inflicted upon them.

Once the third wave of the Closed Eye group retreated, he and Ayamu returned the house to see Riddick already back. Then they proceeded to go upstairs and grab everyone's things, stuffing them into bags and suitcases and loading them into taxi hover that Hera sent after the coast was clear.

The driver whistled through his teeth when he saw the house. The bullet peppered walls, the broken windows, and the three men's appearances. He had asked if there had been a war here. And Riddick told him the truth. Yes.

Ayamu wanted to sleep, exhausted from last nights ordeals and Riddick gave him and Roland permission to sleep for a few hours. Roland didn't feel like sleeping, he was too high on the action from last night.

Then Carol, Rera, and Hera came in from the next room saying that Riddick wanted a few minutes alone with Rakka. Roland guessed it was some romantic crap about the solider coming back from the war to be with his beloved. Shit.

Yet, when Rera and Carol went back, Rera came back with Jack and Carol cam back with a sad look on her face.

"Mr. Riddick is leaving and he left your mom divorce papers." Carol told Roland who polishing his staff by the window with the curtains shut.

"Oh." Roland said not looking at her.

"You don't look surprise."

"She told me that he may be leaving her." He replied smearing cleaning liquid from a bottle along the pole of the staff. He rubbed it with a dirty rag and smiled when the metal gleamed at him.

"How can you be so calm?" Carol asked sounding peeved. "Your mom. . .Aunt Rakka. . .she looks like someone stabbed her in the heart. She could barely speak to us; it looked as if just talking hurts her."

"I guess being dumped can hurt."

This time Carol grabbed the staff and yanked it from his grip. She threw it to the clanging to the floor and somehow didn't wake Ayamu, who had been sleeping on the nearby bed. Roland was about to yell at her, but the look on her face was so fierce he stopped with his mouth opened. He had never seen her so angry before, her hair just seemed to rise up from her scalp and her eyes were flashing at him.

"I cannot believe you are speaking about your mother like that." Carol said in a tone he never heard her use before. "She is in there hurt, heartbroken, and crying her heart out and all you can care about is that damn STICK! She is your mother and she loves you even though you been a pain in the butt to her. I know she's done bad things that hurt you and Uncle Terry, but she's sorry she did them and she trying to make up for them and she came back for your sorry ass. I've been abandoned by my real mom and my adopted mom is dead and I would give ANYTHING for either one of them to come back for me and I wouldn't be an ass toward them for anything. This stick, the Necromongers, and your. . .your. . . forget it, I don't want to even say it, but it's gonna come and go, but you only get one mother and when she's gone, she's gone for good."

She turned and stalked away purposely stepping on his staff as she left the hotel room. Roland watched where she had left and cursed silently. She didn't know what she was talking about. He stood up and retrieved his staff and checked to see if it was bent in anyway.

He bit his bottom lip and swallowed a lump in his throat.

* * *

Rakka couldn't eat, not even when her stomach begged for food. She tried a little soup at Carol's urging, but it was like sand in her mouth. She threw up when she heard on the news that the Basilica was leaving orbit of Refu. It was really and truly happening and there was nothing she could do about it.

She lay on the hotel bed and just sobbed into her pillow. Tissues littered the floor and bed around her. Her eyes were puffy from crying and being rubbed so much. She didn't even bother putting on her pants or jeans.

"Aunt Rakka?" She heard a soft voice say above her.

She rolled over and sniffed. "Carol?"

The girl was standing beside her bed holding out a new box of tissues. "I'm sorry."

Rakka swallowed and sat up. "Honey, you've done nothing to be sorry about."

"I know, but I'm still sorry that it happened though."

"Me too." Rakka took the box and opened it. "I knew he was going to go one day. And I knew it was going to be hard and hurt when he did go." Rakka closed her eyes as a fresh bout of agony swept over her. "I just had no idea that it would hurt this much."

Rakka choked down into tears and was very glad for the fresh tissues to wipe her tears away. Carol sat on the edge of the bed and touched her shoulder. Rakka dropped her head onto her lap and sobbed. Carol stroked her back and thought of something to say.

"Aunt Rakka, I really admired you last night." Carol said as she continued to stroke her back. "I mean I was ready to burst through that door screaming for town when you told us yesterday that there may be men planning on attacking us, but you were so calm, at least till Roland smarted off at you, but I'm talking about when we were in the closet. You didn't act scared at all. You were what kept Rera and me from panicking and you kept your head when we had to leave. Rera and I were about to loose it until you told us it was alright to go forward. As far as I know you are a hero to me."

"Thank you, Carol. I needed to hear that." Rakka said lifting her head and rubbing her eyes.

They hugged each other tightly and Rakka pulled away realizing something. "Oh, Carol, you and Samael. . .you're being separated too. . .I am so sorry."  
Carol shook head. "It's fine. I'll be fine. Samael and I are still together, in the sense of the word. It's not as serious as a divorce."

Rakka winced inwardly at the D word. The divorce papers hadn't been touched. They were still there on the table as a daunting reminder of Riddick's abandonment of her. She had been afraid of men, guns, rape, and even other women, but she never though she would ever be afraid of a piece of paper. She now lived in terror having to sign her name on it. Her hand quivered as she imagined lifting a pen and signing her name on that line, cutting off her marriage to Riddick and any ties that bounded her to him and him to her.

The door opened and Hera was standing in the doorway with a look on her face that Rakka couldn't make out. Her uniform had received makeshift repairs with a thread and needle and her hair was back into that tight cord of a braid.

"Carol, would you mind stepping outside for a while, please. There is something I think I should discuss with the princess."

Carol nodded her head and got off the bed. "I'll see you later, Aunt Rakka."

Rakka gave smile despite her agony. Carol shut the door behind her leaving the adult women alone. Rakka sat up and crossed her legs with a tissue in hand. "What did you want to talk with me about? The escort?"

"Somewhat." Hera replied. She gave Rakka a sad smile and said, "May I have permission to speak with you informally? Woman to woman?"

Rakka nodded her head. "Yes, you don't need to ask my permission to talk to me."

"When I speak to you like I am about to do, I must." Hera replied solemnly. "Princess, why are you on this bed crying?"

Rakka stared at her. Surely everyone knew by now what had happened. That Riddick had left her with divorce papers to sign, that Riddick had just left her. They were there for the whole world to see. She should have placed them somewhere, but that meant she would have to touch it. She could put something on top of it so she wouldn't have to look at it.

But to her shock, Hera picked it up and looked at it. She couldn't help but feel admiration for Hera's bravely. It was the admiration usually reserved for a child who admires an older child who wasn't afraid to pick up a snake. Hera looked at the paper and gave it a sad smile.

"This looks exactly the divorce papers my ex left me the last day we were married."  
Rakka stared at her, her jaw dropping open. "You were married?"

Hera nodded and set the page back onto the table. "Briefly many years back, when I thought I knew what love was." Hera shifted her feet and crossed her arms. "I think that people shouldn't be allowed to marry until they're thirty,"

Rakka scooted forward and placed her feet on the floor. She sat back on the bed and stared at Hera and waited. She said nothing, so Rakka ventured, "Who was he?"

Hera stepped closer to the covered window and looked at it as if she was looking outside and remembering. "He was a norm actually, not Hitomian at all. I had entered into an elite military academy in the Mako sector of Helion System. Though I had a rich background and my parents could afford the tuition, I got in on a scholarship and several recommendations by my superiors and trainers from my previous school. Carson. . .that is his nam. . .he got in on his father's money and he managed to stay, due to his pranks and behavior due to his father's money." Hera chuckled and held a warm smile that Rakka had never seen on Hera's face before.

Hera leaned her lower back against the table with the divorce paper that hungered for Rakka's signature laid. "I was one of the few women admitted into the academy and of course we were welcomed with open arms by our male classmates. And Carson singled me out of the twenty other women in Academy. We were the opposite sides of a coin. He did whatever he wanted, whatever he wanted. I mean whatever popped into that crazy head of his. From putting soap in the central fountain of the school yard to sending out insulting images of the instructors over comlinks. As for me, you know me, I'm a stickler for the rules. I did what I was told when I was told and never questioned my orders. He was the one person I believed that we should set loose a field training course and use as target practice with live ammo. He desecrated everything I was brought up believing. My father was the general of what was left of the army of the Royal Family."

"I was told that your mother was engaged to my father." Rakka whispered.

"Yes." Hera said looking over her shoulder at her. "But the engagement was called off due to Hitomi being destroyed."

"Oh." Rakka replied thoughtfully.

"Carson kept getting in my way and I kept trying to avoid him. He would drop off these little gifts at my dorm. Small cheap ones from bottles of perfume, plastic jewelry you could find in any convenience store and even those little bars of soap you find in hotel rooms."

"Oh, lord."

"I don't know what did it. Whether I got too tired of resisting or his persistence cracked my shell, but I finally went out with him during our free time and it happened. I was in love with a man that was one breath from being dishonorably discharged. Our relationship continued through four years of the Academy. I was the one who kept him from being kicked out; I stayed on him to do his written assignments and study, also when we were on the same team during field training, I would bust my ass to keep our team from failing. When we graduated, ideas of holding rank in the military lost its appeal. We had dreams of getting married and raising kids together. We'd only stayed to please our parents."

"And let me guess, you two rode away on a skiff right after the graduation ceremony?" Rakka finished.

Hera laughed at herself. "It was completely his idea to it that way."

"So what changed?"

"Everything." Hera said sadly. "Going out is one thing, but it is completely different when you live with someone. When you go out with someone, if they act like an ass, you can just go home, but if you live with them. . ."

"You're stuck with them because they happen to live where you live too."

Hera nodded. "Exactly. I loved Carson, in fact, a small part of me still does, but he's fun to be around for a short while, but not constantly. He kept irritating me with his childish antics and he kept saying I sounded like his mother. We drove each other up the wall. Our relationship would not go back to what to what it was before we married. We fought all the time, said nasty things to each other, and so on. I wanted to go into marriage counseling and see if something could be done to salvage our marriage."

"What did your parents say when you got married?" Rakka asked.

"They didn't say anything. They threw a fit. They kept telling me in angry com messages that I was too young, I had too much potential to waste it on civilian life, I was making a mistake, I should have spoke with them before I married this man who came in last in the graduation exam. . .and so on and so on. God, they were so right."

"Who broke it off?" Rakka asked.

"Carson. His father kept telling him that he wasn't going to get a cent until he came to his senses and divorce me and go back home. At first, he told his dad off, but then when our fighting got so bad. . .I came home one day to find that he had packed his things and left. Left a goodbye note on one of those sticky notes on the fridge and the divorce papers on the kitchen table with his signature on them."

Rakka thought she had gotten it back. In her situation, Riddick told her to her face that he was divorcing her. How horrible it must have been to come and find your spouse gone with divorce documents left behind to tell the tale of their flight.

"Did you ever talk with him after that?"

Hero shook her head. "I never heard nor saw him again. I cried for a few days then went back to the family's estate on Refuge where I threw myself into my work so I wouldn't feel sad anymore. I guess that's how I made it to becoming the Captain of the Royal Guard. I think Carson is working for his father's company now, probably remembering our marriage as some college fling."

Rakka reached out and touched his arm. "Hera, I am so sorry to hear this."

Hera shrugged her shoulders and continued to stare at the blind as if it was open. "You know, even though he didn't try to call me, I could have called him. I could have made an effort to get him back and fix what went wrong with us. Even if it couldn't be fixed then. . .at least I know that I had tried and I wouldn't be standing here wondering if things would have turned out different if I had tried."

Rakka swallowed a huge lump in her throat and knew the underlying message in Hera's story. She shuddered. She didn't think she was strong enough to take that big of step.

Hera continued to watch her and said, "Princess, let me remind you of Ayamu's and my oath. We are to protect you from any harm, but the oath doesn't dictate where we protect you."

"Doesn't it go against your recommendation?" Rakka asked.

"Hell, it goes against my own approval." Hera laughed and smiled. "It's purely up to you."

* * *

Purely up to you. Rakka lay on her back on the cool sheets and let those words roam through her mind. It was her choice, she was a grown woman, a grown married woman for now. She was also a Princess and Princesses' had choices and decisions. Riddick would be mad and probably try to drive her away, but hell, fate kept throwing them back together.

Why fight it anymore?

She rolled over onto her side and hugged herself tightly. What about the kids? Roland would be very happy to go back and as would Carol since she'll have her Samael back. Jack. . .Jack was a strong little guy and would adapt as easily as his father. But what about her? Would she be happy?

Fuck it, she spent several weeks in a Slam with Riddick and she thoughts of staying with him in that hellhole.

She sat up and breathed heavily through her mouth. She was scared, terrified of her decision, but she was willing to go through with it.

She stood up and grabbed the divorce paper that had terrorized her for hours and stuffed it into her pocket. She slipped into some shoes, left the room, and knocked on the neighboring door. Carol opened it and was nearly shoved aside as Rakka stepped into the room.

"Aunt Rakka?" Carol stared at her with wide eyes. This was a different Rakka before her. The tears, the lines of sadness of age, and the grief was gone and replaced with the stone hard determination.

Roland was staring from his usual place by the window with his staff in his hands. Ayamu sat up from the bed and Hera, cradling Jack across the room, looked at her with a knowing look on her face.

"You have ten minutes to get your things together. In ten minutes, Jack and I are going to be in a taxi going to the landing port to the skiff. We're going to the Basilica."

* * *

They were ready in five minutes. Most of everything they had had been thrown into bags and they hadn't had the time to unpack, not knowing where they were going next.

Rakka took this time to wash her face and brush her hair. She was still scared; in fact her hands were shaking from fear. Still, it was better than the agonizing despair she had felt after Riddick left.

They got into the hover that brought Riddick, Roland, and Ayamu from the house and went to the landing port. Roland was apprehensive and excited. He was actually quivering in his seat beside Carol who looked no less excited.

Rakka stared at them and thought, _they look as if they're going to a renowned theme park and not some ship that is responsible or the death of billions._

Shouldn't she be as excited as them? She was going to have Riddick back, yet she was still scared. She could change her mind. There was still time. Carol and Roland would probably hate her forever for getting their hopes up so high and then smashing them into pieces. Ayamu would believe she was sane and Hera would give her a disappointing look. It didn't matter to Jack either way, as long as he got to suck his pacifier and his meals came when he demanded them he was happy either way.

She found herself nibbling the end of her thumb nail without thinking about it. She put her arm firmly back around Jack. She shifted him on her lap more comfortably and stared ahead through the windshield window. Her mind kept racing through what she could say to Riddick when she shows up right after leaves her.

Another thought occurred to her and she leaned forward to Hera who was sitting in the front passenger seat. "Is this going to a lot of trouble?"

Hera turned back in her seat to look at Rakka. "A little. I know the Court will not be happy about it all and the Old Queen may be screaming for our heads. Also that escort wasn't happy when I canceled when they were halfway here. They'll probably chalk it up to you being a fickle minded princess."

Rakka swallowed and leaned back in her seat. "No matter what I do, somebody is never happy with it."

* * *

Riddick stood in the shower and let the running water cascade over his body. The water ran in small rivulets down the dips, curves, and lines of his body. The lights were purposely dimmed to allow him to go without his goggles.

As soon as he boarded the Basilica, he had given the orders to leave Refu's orbit and head onward to the outer rim. It would, of course, take them over a hundred years to reach it. For some reason, the Necromongers have never developed the power of light speed nor cryo for their ships.

At least he'll be able to keep the Necromongers from toasting more planets. . .since when the hell did he ever care about the university? He knew the answer to that question.

Roland. . .Roland could have been killed on Yari and possibly Rakka and baby Jack. . .

Fuck it.

Not since Jack. . .Not ever since Jack. . .

Fifteen minutes found Riddick getting dress in his chamber. The tightly fitting leather pants and the chest plate with armored gloves. He was grabbing for his visor when the com started beeping at his hip. He took it up and held it to his ear.

"Adrian?"

"Riddick, uh. . .you ain't. . .gonna like this. . ." Adrian's voice came nervously.

"Jes give it to me straight."

"You sure as hell ain't gonna like this. . . there is a skiff requesting permission to board the Basilica."

Riddick raised an eyebrow. Most ships avoided the Basilica and only sent a transmission to ask them to allow them to pass without conflict. "Who's on it?"

There was a short paused and Adrian said, "Your ex-wife Rakka. . .and she told me to tell you that she brought the kids."

Riddick hissed a strong of vulgar words under his breath and he hissed into the com, "Tell the skiff to get the hell back to Refu."  
"She said that you either give them permission to board or they'll follow the Basilica till they run out of air, then their deaths will be your fault."

Riddick ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek. "Let 'em aboard, but keep them in the hangar. I'm on my way."

* * *

The Basilica hanger was large. It was meant for hundreds of fighter crafts for the hundred of fighters living on the massive ship. Rakka felt very small even within the small group she was standing with. It was gray which matched the somewhat favored color of the Necromongers.

The doors slid open on the far end of the hangar and Adrian walked through accompanied by two armored Necrmongers. Ayamu and Hera straightened at the sight of them. Rakka stepped forward between them with Jack on her hip.

Adrian was surprisingly wearing a black robe instead of his usual jeans and ripped t-shirt. Instead of looking like a distasteful punk, he now looked professional and older. Even his multicolored hair was brushed neatly from his face.

"Adrian." She greeted.

"Mrs. . .Riddick. . ?" Adrian said awkwardly and made Rakka feel very uncomfortable. Riddick had always. . .been Riddick despite the Richard B. that should come before it. Adrian stopped a few feet from her and the guards halted behind him. "Riddick says that you gotta stay in the hangar till he arrives."

"We'll be waiting." Rakka said shifting her feet.

Carol and Roland stood around looking impatient as if eager to go into other parts of the ship. Rera looked overhead with her gold eyes wide at the ceiling stories high. Ayamu looked impressed with the interior of the Necro hangar, but he wasn't going to let the nearby Necros know that. He looked at them coolly with his red eyes. Hera looked formal as if she was a diplomat representing her planet.

Rakka shifted Jack more comfortably on her hip and kissed his forehead. Luckily, he already been changed and fed before during the trip in the skiff so she wouldn't be holding a fussy baby while she contended with Riddick. However, soon he would need to be rocked to sleep for a nap. Till then, he happily had his pacifier.

Ten minutes later, when Rakka's legs began to act from standing for so long, the doors slid open and Riddick stalked into the hangar looking like a hunger lion ready to fight for his meal. Rakka stood her ground and handed Jack to Rera who frightfully took the baby and took several steps back.

Rakka stepped forward to meet Riddick face to face.

"What the FUCK are you doin'?" Riddick hissed at her flicking his visor up above his eyes, his silvery eyes blazing.

"That's a nice hello." Rakka commented crossing her arms.

"Bitch, don't fuckin' play with me." Riddick snarled at her.

Carol gasped in the background, but she was ignored.

"I am not playing. I am being very serious. You are not leaving me."

"I just did."

"No, you didn't." Rakka reached into her pocket and pulled out the crumpled divorce contract which still hungered for her signature. She held it up with both hands in front of Riddick's face and promptly ripped it in two.

"Goddammit." Riddick muttered as he watched her dropped the two pieces to the floor at their feet.

Rakka looked at him and said, "For better or for worse, Riddick. You asked me to marry you and we got married and we've had two kids together despite the odds that had been stacked against us. I'm not throwing it away nor am I letting you throw it away. You're never going to find someone like. Someone who is willing to let you throw bullshit into her face and then have mind numbing sex afterwards. Someone who understands you the way I do or can handle your moods. Nor someone who can handle the life you lead. Just the same way, I'll never find someone who'll take your place in my life. I tried with Terry, but despite all the good he's done in my life or the love he gave me and Roland, I just couldn't move on because he wasn't you. There's no one else for me just as there's no one else for you. So let's just skip the fighting, screaming, and the rest that follows and just go to your bedroom and just fuck each other's brains out like we usually do."


	70. Invite

The next several hours blew passed her like a speeding bullet. It was as if one second she was standing in front of Riddick within the Necromonger hangar and then she was underneath him being grinded into the mattress by his hard thrusts into her body.

* * *

On board the Basilica, Rakka found out that Roland had his own apartment and that he had been living alone for almost a month before Riddick retook his position as Lord Marshal. He happily reclaimed his apartment when they moved onto the Basilica.

Carol took up residence in an apartment closest to Riddick's chamber. Rera became her roommate since they've been getting along so well. They had gotten closer after the terrifying night in the closet.

Ayamu and Hera shared a small two bedroom dorm nearby. Rakka wished that they would accept better accommodations, but Ayamu assured her that they had had to live in smaller and more cramped rooms before.

Jack moved into Riddick's suite along with Rakka. He had to contend with sleeping in his carrier until a proper crib was brought on board. An unused trophy room that once held various weapons, armor, and sacred texts was turned into a nursery for Jack. It was beyond a doubt that the previous Lord Marshals were spinning in their graves at how their collections of weapons, armor, and other items of great worth to the Necromonger Race was swept aside to be replaced with stuff animals, children's books, a changing table, and the walls were mounted with a growing chart and large pictures of rabbits, bears, and little ducklings.

This was no little white house with a picket fence around it, but Rakka knew never to expect anything like that. If the only place where they could live was on giant battle fleet, then so be it. This would be her life from now on.

* * *

Of course, when the Hitomian government heard about Rakka's new dwelling there was an uproar of anger. The council demanded that Rakka return to Refuge IMMEDIATELY. Even the Old Queen wasn't pleased with Rakka's decision.

She tried to talk Rakka into returning to Refuge. Rakka took the call in Riddick's office while Rera tended to Jack for her.

"Rakka, it just isn't done." The Old Queen had spoken to her over the intercomlink system. "There are rumors flying around that you're being held for ransom or as a hostage. They are even calling this an act of war on their part."

"Grandmother, you know as well as I that if the Necros wanted to start a war, they would be right there on top of you before you knew it." Rakka replied calmly. She had already prepared for what she would say when the Old found out. "Tell them to think of this as an act of peace between our races. I think the idea that Lord Marshal isn't likely going to have his wife's race completely destroyed would make them happy."

"Rakka, that is NOT funny." The Old Queen growled at her making her loose her mirth instantly. "The people are very afraid right now. Especially the old ones who remember the day Hitomi was destroyed. There is going to be another panic soon if something isn't done to calm their fears."

Rakka swallowed a lump in her throat. She didn't realize her decision would affect the Hitomians so much. And it hurt that her only remaining relative was angry with her. "Grandmother, I'm sorry, but I am not going back to Refuge. I wasn't happy there. . ."

"And how can you be any happier on the BASILICA?"

"I've been asking myself that too." Rakka admitted. "But everyone I love is here, except for you. ."

"And that's how it's going to stay." The Old Queen snapped. "I wouldn't be caught dead in the ship that killed my daughter along with millions."

Rakka rubbed her nose and was very uncomfortable. "I'm sorry you feel that way. But just tell them that this is a road to peace or truce or something like that. The Necromongers are not going to attack."

"I have a better idea. You tell them. Live vid footage and everything. Like when you announced your marriage to Riddick. You owe the people that much."

Rakka shuddered at the memory of the last time she went on live. There had been cameras and news people shouting questions at her. Luckily she wasn't made to answer them, the Old Queen and her court took care of that. She swallowed and nodded her head. "Alright, but no news conference."

"You need to cut your teeth one day. It's all apart of being the ruler of a nation."

"Not today. You make all the arrangements with Adrian, Riddick's. . .guy." She didn't think it was appropriate to call him the Hacker to her grandmother. "But I will not leave the Basilica, not unless Riddick is with me."

"You're truly a woman in love." The Old Queen muttered shaking her wizened head. "But be a wise woman in love though."

"I know. Riddick and I have a strict understanding that Roland and Jack comes first. . .oh my God! You never met Roland and he hasn't met you." Rakka was shamed of herself. She should have had Roland and the Old Queen speak with each other as soon as possible, but she just forgot.

"It's alright. You and I have a lot to do if we want to smooth this whole mess over." The Old Queen waved her to pass it off.

"I know, but you should at least speak to him over the com. He. . never had the chance to meet my parents and Terry's parents died before they could mean anything in his life. Knowing you would be very good for him."

"Depends on how he acts. I'm liable to beat his ass with my cane and run over him with the chair for the way he treated you."

Rakka sat stunned for several seconds and then said, "You. . .you know about that?"

"Why yes. I have had Rera, Ayamu, and Hera give me a full and detailed report aside from the formal one they gave to their superiors."

Rakka felt betrayed. Were they sent to spy on her?

The Old Queen must have known what she was thinking and she continued, "Rakka, I didn't send them to spy on you, just be my eyes and ears on your life. I wish I. . .I could have gone with you to Refu, so I did the next best thing: have someone be there for me. Don't be angry with them, be angry with me and I was not trying to snoop."

Rakka nodded her head, but she still felt a bit betrayed. "I. . .I understand, I suppose. And I can't help, but be embarrassed by Roland's behavior."

"Didn't you try caning?" The Old Queen asked quite seriously.

"I think it could have came to that if Riddick hadn't have stepped in."

"He killed him?"

"No! He took away some of Roland's privileges, but he pretty much got those back when we moved onto the Basilica."

"How so?"

"They gave him his own apartment when he was training with them. So he's able to do as he wishes since he's no longer living under my roof."

"Is he still training?"

Rakka nodded. "I wanted to put a stop to it, but Riddick said not to stop him. Let the training and Necros sort out any problems that he may have out on the floor. But the thing is that is all he does. Wakes up in the morning, go to the training grounds, then comes to back to sleep. I. . .Sometimes I don't see him for days."

"Have you tried getting touch with him?"

"I leave him messages, invitations to eat a meal with us, but when he does reply it's always he's busy or he can't. It feels like I only have Jack as my child."

"How is Jack?" This may have been a way to change the topic to a lighter matter.

"Oh, he's going working on his exercises. He's going to be all over the Basilica once he figures out how to crawl, but right now he's doing pushups with Riddick coaching him like some drill sergeant." Rakka had to smile. "Last night was so cute. There Jack is on the floor, his little arms just trying to his chest of the floor. He almost, just almost did a full pushup this morning."

"That one could out to be as large as Riddick if you don't watch out." The Old Queen warned.

"He's already got the head for it." Rakka replied smiling. It felt good to speak with her great grandmother again.

"How are the Hitomians taking living on the Basilica?"

"They just about jumped at every shadow. For a while, Ayamu and Hera didn't want to allow ANY Necromongers around Jack or me. They pretty much acted as if they would attack at any second whenever a Necro in full armor came around, but they're starting to relax now as is Rera. Poor girl, I kept waiting for her to go into hysterics after we arrived. She kept looking so afraid and uptight, but she's doing better now."

"And what about Roland's little girlfriend?"

For a minute, Rakka didn't know who she was talking about. "You mean Carol? Oh, she's not Roland's girlfriend at all. She has a boyfriend. . .on board the Basilica. . .A Necromonger named Samael."

There was a short pause on the other end and the Old Queen said, "You didn't sound very happy about it."

Rakka licked her lips and said, "You're right, I'm not very happy about it at all." She shifted in her chair and shook her head. "Since Carol's mother died, I want to look after her, make sure she gets along alright. The poor girl has been through enough. Her real mother and father dies, her adopted father runs out on her and now she looses her adopted mother too. And I hate to say this, but Roland wasn't much of a friend to her after Yari was destroyed so she had no one. . .but this Samael. I'm afraid for her. . .I think that she's clinging to this. . .Samael person too much."

"And the fact that he is also a Necro doesn't bother you much?"

Rakka paused before she answered, "Maybe. . .a little. . .well. . .more than a little actually. I don't want to sound like racist, but I mean how stable can a young man be if he's apart of a race that goes around killing planets?"

"Rakka, you are not alone. I'm sure that there are millions who would like to see the whole Basilica fly into a star. Have you at least met the boy yet?"

"Not yet." Rakka moaned.

"That would have been one of the things I would have done." The Old Queen scolded. "See what kind of young man he is before I tell him to go to hell."

"Grandmother!"  
"Rakka, you're not a racist. If you were, you would have forbidden Carol from ever seeing him again when you found out."

"I really don't want to meet him. It'll just make him more real. And if I don't meet him, a part of me can pretend that he's Carol's imaginary friend. I just don't know. . .there's something about Carol and this boy that sends shivers up and down my spine. I can't explain it."

"How do you know that he isn't. . .taking advantage?"

"I spoke to Carol and I don't think he is, but they're pretty serious, or at least I know that Carol is."

"How are you going to find out how serious he is until you meet the boy? Rakka, I don't want to scare you, but this could. . .these are the seeds for it. . .you don't want Carol to follow in your footsteps and elope."

"It's going come to that." Rakka replied. "Carol is too young. She's sixteen. She doesn't know what love is."

"Rakka, when you were sixteen years old were you in love?"

"I must have been in love two or three times in that year alone and each time I planned. . .I planned the wedding we would have. . .shit."

The Old Queen nodded and said, "That girl thinks she's in love and you better get ready for it before it goes out of control."

Rakka rubbed her temple already feeling the impending headache. "Alright, I'll. . .see what I can do. I knew teenagers are tough, but dammit, I had no idea."

"It makes you wonder about your own parents." The Old Queen said. "I hoped you gave the creep hell."

"I was a good kid." Rakka replied. "I was never pregnant in High School, I didn't take drugs, and I did well in school."

"Damn."

"Would you rather I was bad?"

"Might give Riddick a run for his money."

"I doubt that." Rakka replied. "You saw his records. He was a wild thing, I just hope that Roland doesn't run his shoes."

"If he's in some sort of military group, then I doubt that, even if it is Necros."

Rakka checked the time. Riddick would be back in ten minutes. He would leave to attend to Necro business as Lord Marshal. She wasn't sure what: possibly policies, important decision making, and what not. How could she become the next Hitomian Queen when she got confused with another monarch's ruling policy?

"Grandmother, it was nice talking to you, but I'm going to have to let you go. You go ahead and set up the arrangements for the announcement and speech for me."

"I think you should write your own speech."

"Fine." Rakka replied. "But don't expect anything grandeur or inspirational. I'm just going to come out and say that I'm living with my husband aboard the Basilica and there is no threat or danger to the Hitomian race or any race for that matter."

"Short speech. Talk about the weather too." The Old Queen muttered. "I sent you a gift. You should get it either today or tomorrow."

"A gift?"

"Yes, it's something you and Riddick overlooked during your elopement." With that the Queen cut the connection. Rakka stared at this com-vid and furrowed her brow. What did she and Riddick forget?

* * *

"Was it good for you?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I worked very hard."

"I know."

"And I didn't use Rera's help at all."

"Is that a big deal?"

"Well, it's been a while since I cooked a meal. . .not since Yari. . .and I think this is the first time you ate a meal I made by myself." Rakka said clearing the dishes from the table.

Riddick held Jack on his lap giving him a bottle. Jack grinned brightly at his father from behind the bottle and Riddick gave him a small bounce on his knee affectionately.

Rakka walked around the father and son withthe of dirty dishes, but not without stopping to give her husband a kiss on his velvety shaved head. It was a promise of sweeter things to come.

"Did you see Roland?" Rakka asked as she set the dishes in the sink and turned on warm water.

"Yeah." Riddick replied, "But we didn't talk."

"I sent him a message to meet us for dinner, but. . .he didn't show up." Rakka soaped up a brushed and began scrubbing at a plate.

"He ain't coming."

Rakka didn't answer, nor looked at him. She concentrated on washing the dishes and said, "I hope he's doing alright. I have never been to his apartment. I guess it was nice of them to give him one. . ."

"Rakka, about the apartment . . . there's something you should know about how he got it."

Rakka stopped washing the dishes, turned off the water, and turned around. She leaned against the sink and crossed her arms over her chest. "Do I need a few minutes to mentally prepare myself for it? Or is it going to be something simple?"

"Yer gonna need a few minutes."

Rakka inhaled slowly through her nose and exhaled even slower. She licked her lips and walked to the kitchen table and sat in chair near Riddick. "Riddick, how did he get the apartment?"

"Same way he got the staff. He killed the guy that owned them."  
Rakka took a minute to process this and she said, "What happened?"

Riddick shifted Jack on his lap and he said, "When Roland started training, the other Necros weren't happy about it since he wasn't a Necro too. They. . .hazed him."

Rakka stared at him and said, "Like they do in college? Hazing? Oh, God. . ."

"Not like that. . .they're too discipline for somethin' like that, but when they could kick his ass on the mat they did it. They didn't want him eatin' with them or partnered up durin' practice fightin' with an ally. One day, Roland had had enough during a sparring match. After the instructor blew the whistle for them to stop, Roland lowered his weapon, but his sparrin' took this opportunity to smack in him in the head with his staff behind the instructor's back. That was it, Roland attacked him and then when it was over there was a dead body on the floor that wasn't Roland's."

Rakka placed her elbows on the table, steepled her fingers, and leaned her forehead against them. "You keep what you kill?"

"Yes. The only reason he didn't get the guy's armor was because it was too big for him, but Roland'll grow."

"I know he will grow, but I had NO idea about ANY of this! Why didn't he tell me what had happened?"

"I don't know, Rakka. Ask him."

"I don't think I could walk into that apartment without cringing." Rakka said crossing her arms on the table.

"Rakka, if that's how you feel, you might wanna leave this ship. That rule is one of their oldest and it is the most respected one they got. Just about every Necro man has gotten something from killin' someone. Hell, I became Lord Marshal by killin' the old one."

Rakka swallowed a growing lump in her throat and took a long breath. "I wonder what's going to become of him. I really am."

Riddick said nothing, but returned his attention to Jack who was finishing up his bottle. Jack lightly batted at the bottle as Riddick withdrew it from his lips.

* * *

Rakka couldn't really function as she wondered what she was doing wrong? She remembered the Roland who always had dinner with her and Terry, who obeyed her and respected her and let her know that he loved her. Sure, there had been times when Roland had been disrespectful toward her when he felt hat she was being unfair and in the heat of anger, but he was always ashamed afterwards and apologized. She had no idea who this sulking teenager is that wore her son's face.

Riddick placed Jack on a blanket spread out on the floor to allow him to exercise and go for that one push up that would increase his view of the area around him. He went into his office to attend to some business while Rakka sat in the room with Jack and watched his attempts to look around the room.

She knew she should be there beside him encouraging him, but she just felt put out from the information Riddick gave her. Roland, her son, her firstborn, what was going to happen to him?

There was a tentative knock on the door. Rakka stood up and headed for the door. She pressed the button on the small com-vid at the right of the door and saw that it was Carol. She unsealed the door and greeted Carol. "Hey, come in." Carol smiled shyly as she entered, "I hope I'm not bothering you during dinner."

"Oh, we finished eating a while ago. You're not bothering us at all." Rakka said guiding the girl to have a seat on the couch beside. "Jack, say hello to Carol."

Jack was too busy to bother himself with manners. He ignored his mother and continued to struggle to move along the floor.

"He's just getting cuter and cuter." Carol said smiling and waving at Jack in hopes of getting his attention. "I can't wait to have a baby of my own."

Rakka remembered the discussion she had with the Old Queen and quickly said,  
"Carol, babies are not like dolls. You can't put them away whenever you get tired taking care of them, they are always there needing you. They need more love than what they give. And Carol, I just can't tell you how much responsibility they are. They consumed so much of your time. . .they takes years, Carol, years."

Carol stared at her looking as if Rakka had shoved her and said, "I guess I can wait to have a baby."

Rakka realized at how harshly she had spoken to Carol and said, "Carol, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to talk to you like that, I've been. . .a little tired."

"I understand." Carol said leaning back into the couch.

"So what brings you over?" Rakka asked hoping to change the subject.

"In a way, you sort of touched what I wanted to talk to you about. It's about Samael and me. I think. . .I think he's going to ask me to marry him soon."

Rakka stared at this young girl and felt her blood chill in her veins. "What makes you think that?"

Carol shifted backwards and clasped her hands together on her lap. "He's been talking about how much room he has in his apartment and like how he enjoys being near me. . .I don't know, it's probably just my imagination."

"It could be." Rakka shifted in her seat and said, "Carol, why don't you have him come over one day. . .I want to meet him."

Carol brightened up and said, "That'll be wonderful. How about tomorrow? I can bring him with me."

"Wonderful." Rakka said nodding her head. "I'll make something. Turn it into a dinner."

"He'll like that." Carol grinned. "I better go. It's getting late."

"Alright, thank you for coming over." Rakka said. She watched Carol stand and she said, "Carol, wait. There's something I need to ask you."

Carol looked at her and said, "Yes, what is it?"

"Tell me how Roland got his apartment."

Carol's face dropped a few shades of color. "Ummm. . .there. . .was an accident. . ."

"Roland killed a man during training." Rakka said leaning into the cushioned back of the couch. "Riddick told me."

"Oh." Carol said crossing her arms. "Well. . .they really did treat him rotten, especially the guy he killed. Everyday he came back mad and hurt. One day, he came back with a black eye and a bloody nose and an ugly welt on his back. He wouldn't tell me where he got the welt from, but it looked like a belt mark to me. But it all went away after he killed that guy. They all started treating him differently, with respect."

"I see." Rakka whispered.

Carol shifted her feet and said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"No, no, no, it was Roland's job to tell me and Riddick's, but he chose not to tell me until a little while ago."

"Oh, okay." Carol said, but the strained look on her face didn't leave. "Ummm. . .well. . .I guess I'll see you tomorrow with Samael."

Rakka nodded and said, "Goodnight Carol."

* * *

Carol didn't go back to her apartment; instead she went to Roland's. She had to wait a full five minutes before the door finally opened to emit her inside.

Roland looked as if he been asleep. He was wearing loose sweat pants without socks or shirt. His room apartment was kept dim so he could go without goggles inside his apartment. "What is it?" His silver eyes winced from the outside light.

"I just came back from your mom's."

"Then you can go back." Roland moved to shut the door, but Carol stepped inside before it could shut in her face. "Hey!"

"Roland, we have to talk." Carol said hastily. Her eyes adjusted to the dimness slowly so she put a hand on the wall to steady herself.

Roland growled with frustration and shut the door. "What do you want to bug me about now?"

"It's about your mom. . ."

"Again?"  
"She found out about the guy you killed during training."

Roland at first looked shocked, then scared, and then he tightened his face and said, "So?"

"If she can find out about that, then she can find out about. . ."

"Not if you keep your mouth shut?"

"And what if Vaako doesn't keep his mouth shut?" Carol put her hands on her hips.

"He won't say anything."

"How do you know? Did he give you his word of honor that he wouldn't say anything?"

"I don't any guy wants what happened to get around. It would ruin his reputation, ya know?"

"But it didn't seem to surprise him at all when he found out." Carol said. "He didn't seem surprised at all. Like it was something he had expected to happen."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"More than you." Carol snapped. "I think you should see your mom tomorrow."

"I ain't telling her a damn thing!"

"I didn't say tell her, I said see her. She really misses you. You should go see her."

Roland looked as if he was going to say no, but then changed his mind. "Alright, just to keep you off my back for once."

"Thank you." Carol said and meant it.

* * *

For some, after Carol left, Rakka felt sick. She didn't know why, but the idea of meeting Samael made her feel sick. She knew she dreaded meeting him, but she didn't think it would make her feel sick to know she was actually going to be meeting him face to face. What if he was some old guy? What if he was ugly or looked like some punk?

She didn't feel any better by the time she rocked Jack to sleep and placed him in his crib, showered, and dressed herself for bed. She lay in bed thinking and thinking about tomorrow night.

Finally, Riddick entered and began stripping off. He simply shut the door behind him and pulled his shirt off. Rakka lifted up her head watched him fold the shirt and place it on edge of the vanity.

"Riddick." She said softly.

"Yeah?" He was undoing the button on his pants.

"I invited Samael over for dinner tomorrow night. Carol is bringing him over."

"Oh." Pants and underwear was pushed down muscular thighs.

Rakka had half hoped that he would protest. "I was sort of hoping you would be against it."

"Then why the hell you invited him?" The boots were slipped off his feet followed by the pants.

"Carol thinks that he might be thinking about asking her to marry him." Rakka answered. "I want to at least meet the boy long before that happens."

A lot of weight settled on the bed near her and she felt his presence warm her body. "Keep up the decency, eh?"

Rakka wasn't sure of what he meant by that, but chose to ignore as she did whenever he threw a small insult at her. She leaned into his hard, warm body and inhaled his scent. An idea came to her and she quickly said, "Riddick, do me a favor, okay?"

"Gladly." Hard fingers touched her thigh and slid between her leg. His silvery eyes seemed to gleam with hunger at her.

Rakka shifted her hips and said, "Not that, I meant. . .could you take a look at this Samael and tell me what you think about him before he comes?"

"Fine." Riddick growled into her ear before shoving his tongue into it.  
Even the hard sex that followed didn't make her forget her anxiety. She laid across Riddick's broad chest, her head against his breast, listening to his heart beating and him breathing.

She felt that something bad was going to happen tomorrow, but she could figure out what. But she did know that it had something to do with Samael and Carol coming over tomorrow night. She was almost tempted to call Carol up and cancel tomorrow night's dinner.

"Still botherin' you?" A familiar voice rumbled against her.

"Yes."

"Then cancel."

"I can't do that. We have to meet him eventually. Better to get it over with."

"Somethin' like this never bothered you before."

"I know. I just can't explain it. Every time I think about it, I am full of dread. I just feel that something horrible is going to happen."

A thick arm tightened around her. "Rakka, are you pregnant?"

"What?" Rakka stared at through the darkness at him. "I am not pregnant."

"You sound like you are."

"Well, I'm not pregnant." Rakka said sharply. "Just because I'm worried about something doesn't automatically mean I'm pregnant."

Riddick muttered something under his breath which was likely best that Rakka couldn't hear it.

Rakka spent the next morning cleaning the suite. She had Rera baby sit Jack for her so she could clean alone and forget about the impending visit of Samael.

Then Roland showed up.

At first, she could only stare stunned at the elusive son, she had not seen in nearly a week. "Roland?"

"Hey, Mom." Roland said with a small smile.

"Hey." Rakka replied. Then she snapped into attention and said, "Please, come in." Roland stepped inside and she shut the door behind him. "It's really nice to see you."

"Thanks." Roland replied standing looking uneasy.

"So how is everything?" Rakka found herself asking.

"Fine." Roland replied nodding his head.

"I really miss seeing you." Rakka said, not really sure of how to start a conversation with Roland.

"Uh, me too." Roland replied, but it sounded more like he was being more polite than sincere.

Rakka reached out and hugged him. She held him close to her body and eventually Roland lifted his arms and hugged her back. She released and him and stepped back. "Roland. . .what happened to us?"

"I don't know, Mom."

"Let's sit down." Rakka said motioning to the empty couch.

Roland nodded and followed his mother to the couch. They both sank into the deep cushioned couch. They sat in silence next to each other, the other not sure of what to say.

"Roland, I love you." Rakka said hoping to break the ice between them.

"So do I. I love you too." Roland replied.

"I think you're saying that out of response and not out of honesty." Rakka replied.

Roland swung his head away and said, "Mom, I really do love you."

"It's hard to tell the way you've been acting."

"I knew I shouldn't have come." Roland muttered. "Man, I should have told Carol to stick it when she asked me to come over."

"And now you are treating Carol badly." Rakka shook her head sadly. "I don't understand. She cares very much about you and you two use to be such good friends. What happened there?"

"I don't know." Roland said, his voice getting hard. "Why are you riding me all of a sudden?"

"I'm not trying to lecture you or scold you. I just. . .I'm just tired, Roland. I'm tired and I'm frustrated about what's going on between us. We use to be so close and loving to each other. Now I feel like I'm treading on thin ice around you." Rakka reached out and touched her son's cheek. "I wish things could go back to as they were before Terry died."

"They will, Mom." Roland said touching her hand. "I promise you that they will."  
Rakka gave him a sad smile and said, "I certainly hope so, baby. For starters, it'd be nice for you to drop of out the Necromonger training and move in with Riddick, Jack, and me."

It was the wrong thing to say.

Roland surged upwards out of his seat and glowered at her. "How is it that it is alright for Carol to date a Necromonger, but it's like a sin for me to train with them?"

"Because Carol isn't acting like you are." Rakka stood straight and stood her ground. "Because Carol hasn't had a personality revamp like you."

"Oh, so if I treated you nicer, than you would get off my back and leave me alone about the Necromongers?"

"No, because I don't approve. You are too young and. . ."  
"Chronis said you would try the too bit." Roland shook his head.

Rakka stared at him and said, "Are you still seeing that man? That man tried to have your father killed and you along with him."

"I was trying to kill Riddick. What almost got me killed was an accident."

"Roland, I am not hearing you say this." Rakka stepped away touching her temples.

"Mom, everything bad that has ever happened to us is because of Riddick. Ever since he came into our lives, it has been one disaster after another. You cheat on Dad, he dies, and Jack gets stolen. . ."

"Riddick is NOT to blame for ANY of those things. Jack would have been kidnapped whether or not Riddick had been there and it was because of him that we were able to get him back. And Terry didn't die because of Riddick either. I told you and the doctors told you that he had been sick for a long time, long before Riddick came back. As for the affair, it was as much my fault as it is Riddick's. You should blame me just as much Riddick."

"And I do, Mom. Your cheating on Dad was what drove him into his grave. You killed him."

Rakka's hand swung through the air and her palm collided with his cheek. Roland swung his face from the impact as a sharp slapping sound stroked throughout the room. Rakka stared at her son in shock at what she had done. She hadn't slapped him since that night back on Refu.

"Roland, I. . ." Rakka started, but never finished.

"Mom, I better go now before this gets any worse than it already is." Roland stood and rubbed his cheek.

Rakka wanted to say, no don't go, I'm sorry, I hit you. However, she nodded her head in helpless agreement. "I hope I can see more of you, though."

Roland gave her a weak smile which seemed weaker due to the highlighting mark on his cheek. Rakka had to look away and cross her arms over her chest.

Neither Mother nor Son said goodbye to each other.

* * *

During this exchange between mother and son, Riddick was in the training arena getting his first look at Samael. The young man was sparring with an opponent larger than himself. 

The boy kept pace with the man and used the larger man's weight and frustration against him. Before too long, Samael pinned the man onto mat easily and held him there till me submitted to defeat.

Riddick couldn't help, but be impressed. The boy had used the same strategies that Riddick would have used himself. For his age, he showed promising skill.

Riddick entered the training arena as Samael released his opponent. As Riddick drew near, he noticed that Samael's hair was a sandy color. Riddick stared hard at him trying to place a name with the face.

Riddick knew he had this young man before. It was too young for him to remember from a Slam. . .but then again what with cryo and everything it was hard to tell anyone's age.

Riddick continued to try to remember where he had seen this young man before as he approached him. Samael noticed him approaching and quickly dropped into a bow before him.

Riddick shook his and said, "Get off the floor. Don't need to do that here."

Samael hastily stood straight, but kept his face lowered from Riddick's. "Yes sir."

Riddick studied Samael. It wasn't his way of nosing into somebody's past. Hell, he was too busy trying to keep people out his life that he was too busy to concern himself with anyone else's. Yet. . .looking at this boy's familiar face made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He understood how Rakka had felt and his intuition told him that he needed to find out who this boy is or else something was going to hit the fan.

"How long have you been a Necromonger?" Riddick asked uneasily this being so against his nature.

"Almost all my life. Since I was a small boy, my lord." Samael answered.

Well, that explains it. He had most likely seen him on the Basilica during his years as Lord Marshal. . .wait. . .Riddick had seen this guy before, but not as an adult, but as a little kid. . .where?

Riddick's mind cycle through all the kids he had known in his long life. Zeza? Jack? No, after Jack, but before Zeza. . .when? Riddick decide to fish for some more information.

"Are your parents Necromongers?" Riddick asked. "And fergit the formalities, okay. Just talk to me about yer parents."

"I was an orphan. I don't remember my father, but I do remember bits and pieces of my mother." Samael shook his head, his sandy hair waved at the movement. "I can't remember her name or face, but I do remember she had dark hair and was pregnant. . .I think she may have died in childbirth, my lord."

That narrowed it down. Narrowed it down a lot. The only dark haired pregnant woman with a blonde haired little boy he could remembered was Reki. . .who was the mother of Carol and a little boy named Sami. . .

Sami? Samael? He stared at Samael's face and it snapped into place. This was Sami from Haven. . .a little kid that Riddick had forgotten about for so many years. Oh shit. . .he was dating his own fucking sister! He had to make sure before he threw the cat shit at the fan.

"Is Samael your Necro name or the name you had before you became one?"  
"A little both, sir. My old name is. . .Sami. . ." He actually looked embarrassed.

"I'm sure it is short for a longer name, but I'm afraid that sense my parents are dead, that that can't be proven or disproved."

Riddick stared at Samael and wondered if it wouldn't be best for everyone around if he just took out his shiv and stabbed the young man in the throat right now.

Rakka'd just get mad and bitch.


	71. Siblings

Rakka was selecting something to cook for the dinner. She wasn't expecting Carol and Samael for the next three hours and she was hoping that Riddick will be back soon.

Chicken? No, that was a family meal, not an introducing the boyfriend meal. Maybe she could have Rera prepare lobster or something exquisite like that? Might as well, since this young man was going to be one of the few Necromongers to ever dine with the Lord Marshal.

Rakka stood up away from the table to call up Rera to ask if she could prepare a meal when she heard Riddick come in. She lifted Jack from his baby carrier, which had been setting on the table near her elbow, and carried him with her to greet her husband.

"Riddick, hey, did you see Samael?" She paused when she saw the tenseness in Riddick's body. Something was wrong. "Riddick?"

Riddick removed his visor and shut and sealed the door behind him. "Rakka, put Jack somewhere or get Rera to take him. We need to talk."

* * *

The suite was dimmed. It was always kept dim due to Riddick's eyes. Rakka sat in the dimness, but she felt darker inside after Riddick told her what he had discovered. She felt cold, like ice cold water was being poured into her head and it was running down her throat, and into her limbs. She sat at the table where just twenty minutes ago she had been thinking about what to prepare for a meal. That seemed like years ago.

She grasped her hands tightly together and she said through her teeth, "Are you sure? Are you positively absolutely sure?"

"Not one hundred percent sure, not without a blood test, but I am 90 percent sure." Riddick was standing at the counter in full armor holding a half-full coffee mug.

Rakka shook her head. "It's got to be a coincidence."

"His name was Sami."

"So there has to be thousands of little boys with that name in the universe."

"With a dark haired mom that he remembered being pregnant."

"God, there has to be thousands of women like that."

Rakka, I had Adrian check out his records from before he became a Necro." Riddick set the mug in the sink. "He picked up by the adoption agency when he was three years old on Haven in the same town that we met. He was hopped around from different adoption centers due to overcrowding because of the war on Haven before the Necros took over the planet he happened to be on and they made him one. That's too many coincidences for me."

Rakka rubbed her face with both hands and said, "I can't tell Carol, how can I?"

"You're gonna have to." Riddick said stepping closer to the table. "I mean before she and her brother start going further than first base."

"Did you say anything to Samael. . .Sami?"

"I didn't say anything. I wanted to make sure first. He's still coming over."

"I knew it." She whispered through her teeth. "I knew something terrible was going to happen, I knew it."

"Yeah, you're a real fuckin' physic." Riddick said his face tilted toward the ceiling.

"Riddick, now is NOT the time for that attitude." Rakka said through gritted teeth. "Carol is a very fragile girl right now. Everyone she knows and loves has come and gone in her life and. . .and I'm scared once she finds out her true relationship to Samael. . .it's going to tear her apart."

Riddick didn't say anything and muttered, "Then she should be used to it."

Rakka looked up at him shocked, "How can you say that? That poor girl is going through hell."

Riddick shrugged his broad shoulders and said, "She'll handle it. She'll shed a few tears and think her life is over, but she'll deal. I'm more worried about how Samael is gonna handle it. He's going to be as shocked too."

Rakka swallowed the lump in her throat and said, "How do you think he'll take it?"

"I dunno. Don't know him that well. It was the first time I seen him today."

Rakka buried her face into her hands and felt like crying. The anxiety made her stomach feel raw with sickness and she just might go throw up before the night was over.

"Wait. . ." She lifted her head and said, "This is Sami. . .that little boy. . .Reki's little boy, he was a good kid. . .whined though, but. . ."

Riddick looked at her with disgust. "Don't start thinkin' about adoptin' him or some shit. He's a Necro, been one for fifteen years. He may be physically Sami, but he ain't Sami in the head."

"Do you think he remembers us?" Rakka asked.

"He didn't remember me." Riddick replied. "He might remember you. He was around you longer than he was around me."

Rakka shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know if his remembering me might be a good thing or a bad thing."

* * *

Rakka kept pacing. Sometimes she would emit a whimper uncontrollably in panic. She wanted nothing more than to leave. Just leave the apartment and just sleep somewhere else tonight and let Riddick be the one to break the news.

No, she couldn't do that. She owed it to Carol to tell her the truth before it was too late and she was sure that Riddick wouldn't break the news gently. It wasn't his style.

Her eyes watched the clock. It was strange, like some dimensional time warp. Each minute seemed to take hours to pass, but when it passed it seemed to be so quick. Riddick was reclined back on the couch watching her pace.

Jack had been sent to stay with Rera for the night or at least until the situation is over. They didn't bother with preparing a meal. Rakka was sure that no one was going to feel like eating tonight.

Rakka planned it carefully. She would tell Carol first and then Sami. . .Samael. . .his name is Samael. . .

Her mind kept flashing back to her time on Haven, before she met Riddick for the very first time. Right after she had killed Rolf, the CareTaker's son and heir. This was ANCIENT history why back when she was a different person, and she had been brutally thrown into Riddick's world.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember Reki. She couldn't remember Reki's facial features, but she did remember she had dark hair and was heavy with carrying triplets. She also remembered that Reki was so fascinated with the ancient people of Earth that she decided to give birth without any prenatal care just the women of old went without. Unfortunately, it was what killed her.

Or was it the poison? The poison put in the rations for refugees from the coming war? Rakka thought about it and decided that if Reki had had regular doctor appointments and such, then the doctor would have seen the poison in her system and would have given her proper treatment. Then they all would have known about the poison.

The one thing Rakka could remember clearly, an image she would have with her till her dying day was of Reki getting a home made c-section with Riddick as the surgeon. The images of those babies with horrible splotches on their tiny bodies from the poison and one strangled by a cord around its neck. The only little survivor was Carol whom Riddick had named Carolyn.. . .Which had been changed to Carol for short when she was a small child and Roland would call her Carol in his babyhood and it stuck.

God, back when Roland was her little boy and loved her, actually loved her. She felt her stomach lurched and she gagged. She would have thrown up if her stomach hadn't been so empty.

"Rakka, siddown." Riddick said from the couch.

"I can't." Rakka replied. She felt like her insides were running in place and if she sat down it would only hurt.

"Rakka, you are overreacting." Riddick said watching her pace.

"Overreacting!" She stopped in her tracks and whirled on him. "Riddick, this girl has been kissing and loving her own brother! They're going to go to hell."

Riddick threw back his head and laughed. "Yer takin' this a lot worse than it is and if you don't calm down then yer gonna make it worse than it needs to be. You. . ."

"Riddick, please. . .Please, don't get all. . .don't lecture me alright. I don't want to hear it." Rakka replied coolly.

Riddick shrugged his broad shoulders and leaned back into the couch. He lifted his arms and folded his hands behind his tilted backwards head. Rakka resumed her pacing. . .if was stupid for her to walk back and forth around the room. For some reason, it was soothing to move around. It made her concentrate on walk and less on Carol's dilemma. And Carol has been the least trouble between her and Roland. The last thing Rakka felt she needed was for Carol to take up Roland's lately habits.

"Are you sure you're not pregnant?" Riddick asked.

Rakka stopped and whirled on him again. "Riddick, stop asking me that. I am NOT pregnant."

"You're actin' pregnant."

"How would you know? You weren't exactly around me much while I was pregnant!"

There was a deafening silence between them and Rakka raised both her hands and covered her mouth with them stunned at herself. "Riddick. . .I am so sorry, I didn't mean. . ."  
"You meant it and you're right." Riddick said looking completely untouched by what she said. "I wasn't there to watch you get fat with kid. I've only got to the see the end result."

"Riddick, I was wrong for saying that to you."

Riddick held up a hand and waved it away. Rakka could tell that what she had said had some affect on him in the way that he stopped looking at her.

She opened her mouth to apologize again, but the door opened and Carol walked in. She parted her lips to give greeting to them, but then she took notice of the tenseness between Rakka and Riddick. She paused at the open doorway and stared nervous and unsure.

Rakka turned to the girl and forced a smile, "Carol."

"Aunt Rakka . . . Samael is outside. . .He won't come in until Riddick gives him permission to enter. . .some sort of Necro courtesy thing."

Rakka stared at Carol, her lips parted to say something, anything, but her mind was blank. It was as if inside her head, she was standing outside watching her stand there like an idiot not able to tell this young girl something that she needed to hear.

Riddick leaned forward and stood straight from the couch. "I'll tell him that he can come in."

This was where Rakka should have asked Carol to come back with her into their bedroom. Rakka had chosen the bedroom as the best place to give Carol the news. Rakka couldn't understand why, but for some reason being in the bedroom is somehow relaxing and calming compared to any other room in a home.

Yet, she said nothing as Riddick walked past her and brushed past Carol to lean out the door and say something outside to Samael. She couldn't tell if he ordering Samael to come inside or asking him to come inside. She heard the footsteps and realized what she had feared the most.

She was going to se Sami after fifteen long years. Her heart nearly stopped when she realized this. At the back of her mind, she was hoping that Samael won't look anything like the Sami she remembered. . .or what she could remember of him. That he would have dark hair or be much too old to be Sami.

Yet, the young man that walked in threw her memory back to Haven and the image of a little boy begging her to go out into the wet forest to find his forgotten teddy bear. How could she have forgotten his lightly freckled face and sandy blonde hair which he inherited from his father Marcel. . .and Carol inherited Reki's dark hair and facial features.

This young man was Sami eighteen years old.

He stood wearing what looked like formal Necromonger clothing without all the armor. His hair was neatly trimmed close to his scalp which was one of the traditional style of Necromonger men and he was clean shaven too. He had really dressed up in order to impress his somewhat would-be in-laws.

He stared at her and she realized that she had been staring and holding her breath. She silently gasped for air and swallowed. "Hello. . .Sam. . ." She didn't know whether to call him Sami or Samael.

He gave an uneasy bow and salute, yet. . .there was something in his eye as he stared at her. Like. . .oh God. . .what if he recognized her? She had blue-violet eyes, which is a very rare eye color. . .damn, damn, damn.

"Aunt Rakka. . .are you ill?" Carol asked her still looking very unsure and slightly embarrassed.

Rakka was sure that she wasn't behaving very politely toward their guest and again she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came. How the hell was she going to be able to tell Carol the most important thing she'll ever need to know in her life and here she was not able to function at all.

Riddick spoke up. "Carol, there's somethin' Rakka needs to tell you. Go to the bedroom with her. I'll stay here with Samael."

Rakka nodded her head, grateful to Riddick for coming through. "Let's go, Carol."

Carol looked between her and Riddick and nodded. "Samael, I'll be right back."

Rakka grimaced inside when Carol stood on tip-toe and kissed Samael on the cheek. After Rakka tells her the truth. . . that would be the last time she would ever kiss her lover.

Rakka turned and led Carol toward the back bed chamber. Carol followed at a steady pass, but her eyes were wide with concern. Rakka couldn't help, but notice that she had dressed up too, but not as much as Samael. She had on nice peach colored sundress with matching shoes. Her hair was pinned away from her face with a butterfly shape clip.

Rakka thought to herself that that the girl must have went through the trouble of getting ready to have a nice evening with her boyfriend and guardians. Rakka hated herself even more for what she was about to do to this girl.

After they entered the bedroom and Rakka shut and sealed the door, Carol started, "Aunt Rakka, what happened? You're acting as if someone died."

Rakka took a deep breath and said, "I think that if someone had, then maybe this would be so much easier for me to say to you."

Carol stared with fear in her eyes at Rakka and she whispered, "What is it?"

Rakka licked her lips and said, "Carol, let's sit on the bed first. Because there's a lot I have to tell you."

"No, just. . .just tell me now. What is it?"

"It isn't something I can just tell you. It has a bit of a background story to it."

"Can't you just give me a hint or something?" Carol looked panicked.

Rakka decided to come out with something. "Carol, I knew your mother. Your real biological mother. And so did Riddick."

Carol stared at her stunned and Rakka wasn't sure whether she had heard or not. She took the shocked girl's hand and led her over to the bed where they both took a seat on the covers. Rakka held Carol's hand on her knee and said, "What I have to tell you isn't going to be very easy for me to say or for you to hear."

"Why didn't you. . .how do you know. . .?" Carol asked staring in disbelief at Rakka.

"I know because I was on Haven when your mother was pregnant with you and I was there when you were. . .'born'. And it was Riddick who named Carolyn after a woman he knew."

She wanted to give Carol a few minutes occasionally to digest the information she receives, but the girl buzzed at her with questions.

"Did you know my father? What was my mother's name? Did I have any siblings? What kind of jobs did they have? Were they rich or poor? Why did they give me up?"

Rakka raised a hand to paused the questions and said, "Carol, let me start from the beginning. As you know, this takes place fifteen years ago on Haven, the planet I grew up on."

"Why didn't you ever tell me any of this?" Carol asked her eyes starting to brim with tears. "All my life I have always wondered about them and why they gave me up."

"Carol, they never gave you up. They died right after you were born." Rakka ran her fingers across Carol's brow. "They reason why I didn't say anything was because during that time. . .I met Roland's father, Riddick, for the first time."  
Carol swallowed and closed her eyes. "Tell me about my mother."

"Your mother's name was Reki and she was a professor at university in the City on Haven. She taught ancient history, her favorite time period was the pre Colonization years. . .when humanity just lived on Earth."

"And my father?"

Rakka shifted slightly. During the whole Haven incident, Marcel had been cheating on Reki claiming that he had to leave to go on business trips. Rakka had picked and selected the tidbits that she felt that Carol didn't need to know.

"I didn't know him very well, Carol. He worked for a company or had a business of his own. He wasn't there very much with us."

"Where were you?"

"There was a threat of a war happening on Haven and the hotspot was the City. So I got out of there with my mother, she died a few weeks later though. Reki and I met during out trip to a small colony town where we would stay until the war blew over and it was safe for us to return home."

Carol pulled her feet up onto the edge of the bed and she was hugging her knees to her chest staring at Rakka with rapt attention. She looked like a little girl being told a Fairy Tale.

"When I met Reki, she had a little three year old boy and was pregnant with triplets."

Carol stared as this news dawned on her. "Wait, she was pregnant with me right?"

"Carol, you were part of a set of triplets. You had two twin brothers."

"What happened? Are my brothers still alive?"

"That's getting ahead of the story, Carol." Rakka patted her knee. "You see, Reki was obsessed with the period of Earth before they had advanced Medical Technology. She wanted to be like the women who had babies without prenatal care. So she went without it."

Carol's eyes widen yet again. "Is that how she died?"

"Partly. Let me tell the story of how it happened." Rakka continued. "We were assigned to stay at this abandoned school campus about half a mile outside of town. We were the only to families there so we had expected there to be more coming, but no one else came, except if you want to count Riddick."

Rakka's mind went back to that night so long ago when she met the man who would be the father of her children and her husband.

"I met Riddick. . .We met Riddick there. Since you already know his background as a convicted murderer, I can be honest. He was running away from mercs and he crash landed near the campus. He showed up in the morning claiming that his name was Johns and that he was a refugee too. Reki believed him, but I saw through him."

_Actually, I pretty much saw how he was the night before when he threatened to slit my throat. _

"Your mother was a very kind person and trusting. She welcomed Riddick with open arms. After he arrived, we. . .Riddick and I. . .went into town to get some supplies. It was a long walk and we had no hover for transportation. So we were gone for a long time. By the time we got back it had started to snow. We came back to. . . "

_The kitchen was a mess. Ration packs were spilt open and their contents scattered across counters, tables, and the floor. Standing naked amongst the mess, brandishing a knife, was Reki. Her long dark hair was matted and clumps of food and vomit clung to her dark tresses. Vomit, spittle, and food drizzled down her chin and between her breasts and over her swollen belly. The stench…made Rakka want to gag._

"_The little fuckers won't stop kicking me. . ."_

_She took the kitchen knife, the knife that Rakka had hidden in her room, and made a gash across her extended belly. Along with other gashes that zigzagged her swollen stomach._

"_Gotta cut them out. Gotta gut the little fuckers. . ."_

There was no way that Rakka was going to give Carol the full details of her mother's death or suicide.

"When we arrived, your mother was in labor. The snow became blizzard and our com signal couldn't get through to call for help. We did the best we could, but it wasn't enough. Your mother died in labor along with your triplet brothers. You were the only one Riddick and I could save. Also. . .our refugee rations contained a chemical or poison. It was put there by the government in order to help stifle the rebellion that was happening at the time. We think that it may have had a big part to play in ending your mother's life. "

"And my dad. . .?"

"Your father was killed from a terrorist attack while he was at a party with. . .some friends."

"And what about my older brother?"

Rakka licked her lips and said, "A lot of things happened after that. I can't tell you everything, but Riddick and I couldn't have been able to take you or your brother with us. You were just born and he was just a little boy. We had to give you up for adoption if you can forgive us. We didn't know if you had any other relatives. We left you with the townspeople believing that if you would be taken care of. You were later adopted by the parents you had on Yari."

"And what about my brother? Do you know what happened to him? Where he is?"

_He's in the next room, Carol. _Rakka didn't tell her that, instead she said, "Carol, now this is. . .the hard part. I know where he is and who he is now."

Carol shifted and stared with hope at Rakka. Rakka felt her mouth go dry. She couldn't, she just couldn't tell her. . .then she started to speak. "He was passed around foster homes. It's easier to find a home for a newborn baby than it is for a three year I suppose."

Rakka sucked in a deep breath and held both of Carol's hands in her own. "Carol, this little boy happened to be on one of the planets that Necromongers took over and he became a Necromonger and grew up among them. Honey, he changed his name from Sami to Samael."

At first, Carol blinked. Once, twice, and a third time. She parted her lips and Rakka expected her to speak, but a soft hiss escaped. Then she shook her head, "No."

"Carol, honey, I didn't know at first, not until Riddick saw him and figured out who he is. He even did some research with Adrian and traced him back to Haven, back to exact same time Riddick and I had to give you two up. And I saw him in there. He had the same sandy color hair as the little named Sami that we knew."

"I don't believe you." Carol whispered and yanked her hands from Rakka's grasp and stood from the bed. "You're lying!"

"Why would I lie?" Rakka stood up and held her hands out beseechingly and offering comfort to the distraught girl. "The last thing I would ever do to you was to hurt you needlessly."

"You. . ." Carol was gasping as if she was finding it hard to breath. "You just don't like Samael because he is a Necromonger. Just like you don't want Roland around Necromongers. . .if only you knew. . ."

"Carol, think about it. If I was against you seeing this boy, then I wouldn't resort to outright lying to you. I would have talked with you about it, you know that."

"It just can't be true."

"Carol, you're just upset, but you've done nothing wrong. You didn't know."

"He's not my brother. . .he's NOT!"

"Riddick and I are pretty sure he is. . .but we can do a blood test to be absolutely sure."

"Yeah. . ." Carol began to calm down. "And you'll see that you're wrong. It was a war. . .I bet there was a lot of orphan three year boys from that planet."

Rakka nodded, but knew it was false hope. There were too many coincidences for them not to be siblings. "Carol, I want you to promise me something, okay. Until the blood test results come back, I don't want you to be around Samael, at least not as his girlfriend, okay. It shouldn't take long to get test results."

Carol chewed her bottom lip and nodded. "I want to results as soon as possible."

"Yes, alright. We can go have your blood drawn now and send it off to be tested. I have money and so does Riddick and we can pay them to give us results as soon as possible, but not too soon. We don't want to them to make a mistake in haste, okay?"

Carol bobbed her head in a nod and her eyes looked brimmed as if any second they would start to spill with tears. Rakka pulled her and they both hugged each other tightly.

"I don't want him to be my brother. . .I love him too much for him to be my brother." Carol whimpered into Rakka's chest.

Rakka rubbed her back and said, "Honey, listen, you are not going to loose him. You. . .you're just going to have to. . .may have to learn to love him in a different way."

"How?" Carol pushed away from her. "How? I can't. . .I. . .You don't understand."

"I can if you explain to me."

"I can't explain it! I. . .I feel dirty. . .yet. . .I don't know. . .I feel as if. . .I'm loosing Samael, but. . .no really. . ." Carol clutched her head with both hands and pulled her hair, ruining her hairstyle. "Try to imagine if someone told you that Riddick could be your long lost brother."

Rakka opened her mouth to say something. She had been raised as an only child so she was absolutely positive . . . wait . . . her father hadn't been truthful about his background, then how could she expect him to be faithful to her mother or been a good boy during his time as a rich prince. There could have lovers or girlfriends, he was even freaking engaged to another woman.

She knew, of course, that it was impossible for Riddick to be her blood relative. She was pure blooded Hitomian and he was Furyan and was ten years her senior. Maybe more so due to all the time he had spent in cryo being shipped from one slam to the next or traveling across intergalactic traveling routes by himself since he could pilot.

Yet, she forced herself to imagine it. If someone showed up and told them that they were brother and sister. . .after all the times they had sex and their two sons. . .

"Carol, if it ever turned out that Riddick and I are related. . .it would be a hundred times worse for us."

* * *

Carol wanted to be the one to tell Samael the news.

"It'll be easier for him to hear it if he hears it from me."

Rakka agreed and was glad that she was relieved of the task of revealing to the news to the other one that this concerns. Samael was still in the living room with Riddick during the twenty minutes she and Carol had been in the bedroom revealing revelations.

Carol gave Samael the shortened version of the story and he listened to it in silence. He showed almost no reaction at all.

Carol finished the story and said, "So until this whole thing is sorted out, Aunt Rakka thought it would be best if we. . .aren't around each other very much."

Samael started and furrow his brow. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I don't see how this should change anything between us."

Rakka, who had been sitting in an armchair near Riddick who was perched on the far end of the couch, spoke up, "Samael, you two could be siblings, share the same genes."

"I know, but, with all due respect, I fail to see how Carol being my sister should affect our relationship." Samael looking between her and Riddick.

Rakka stared at him, not very sure that he understood what they were saying. "Samael, Carol could be your sister and you could be her brother. You may share the same parents. Doesn't it bother you that you could be marrying and . . . and having sex with your own sister."

Samael looked at her and said, "Among the Necromongers there is no separation of families such as mothers, fathers, brothers, or siblings. We are of the same faith and therefore we are all brothers and sisters of the faith."

"Yes, that is true, but Carol is your sister by blood, genes, DNA. . ."

"Those words mean nothing to the Necromonger Way." Samael stood and bowed respectfully to Rakka. "As far as this is concerned, nothing should change between Carol and me."

"Yes, it does." Rakka stood up facing him. "Sami, it's wrong, it's incest, it's sinful and disgusting."  
"Rakka. . ." Riddick whispered in a warning tone.

The look in Samael's eyes hardened and he said, "Forgive me, but my name isn't Sami, it is Samael. And I respect you as the Lord Marshal's wife, but I cannot stand here in your presence any longers. You have disrespected me, my culture, and my faith."

Rakka was stunned. It was as he was accusing her of slapping him in the face when she hadn't so much as raised her hand against him.

Riddick stood and took over. "If ya feel that way, then you should leave."

"Thank you, my lord." Samael bowed deeply to him. "I apologized that the evening couldn't be more pleasant."

With that he left. Rakka stared at the door he used to exit and was unprepared for Carol's onslaught.

"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT TO HIM!" Carol had tears streaming down her cheeks and her eyes were red. "I have NEVER seen him so upset!"

Rakka turned to her and said, "Carol, I didn't mean to offend him, but . . . his attitude about this situation."

"He was taking it just fine before you tore into him!"

"I did not tear into him, but he needs it if he keeps thinking incest is okay when it ISN'T!"

"For all you know, we may not even be related at all!"

"And what if you are?" Rakka snapped. "Are you going to keep going out with your own BROTHER?"

"To him it doesn't matter when you're a Necromonger. It's a different way of life for them!"

"What about you? Surely, it means something different for you!"

"I don't know!" Carol cried. "I just don't know, but it's our business of what we're going to do!"

"Carol. . .listen to me . . . he is your 'brother', your own flesh and blood. Please, tell me that you think that it's wrong to be in love with your brother."

Carol swallowed and said, "I . . . yes. . .but, I love him. I never felt this way about anyone before. . .I got to go, I just need to think."

Rakka wanted her to stay, keep talking with her until she admitted that incest was one hundred percent wrong, but she was tired and she felt that it would be beating a dead horse. "Alright, but I want to talk with you in the morning."

"No, you said enough." Carol replied.

"No, this isn't finished, Carol."

Carol gritted her teeth and said, "You wouldn't be so worried about me if you knew about. . . nothing, just forget. . .I need to get out of here before I throw up."

Carol left without saying goodbye and Rakka crossed her arms and just felt so drained emotionally, mentally, and physically. She turned to Riddick who had reclaimed his seat on the couch.

"Well, why didn't you back me up?" Rakka said steadily.

Riddick looked up at her and said, "And do what?"

"I don't know. Help me make them understand incest is wrong or tell Carol to calm down or. . ."

"Firstly, whether they understand incest is wrong is up to them and I can't tell Carol to calm down. Only she can do that herself. If I had stepped in it woulda made things worse."  
"You're his fucking Lord Marshal, you could have. . ."

"Order him to think in a different way? Tell him to change a set of values he has grown up with and was taught when he was small child and has studied throughout his life? Sure, I can do that, but that doesn't mean he'll obey me."

"So are you saying that I took care of it badly?" Rakka shifted her feet into a defensive stance.

"Fuck it, Rakka!" Riddick shifted forward in his seat and glared at her through his goggles. "There is no good way to handle somethin' like this!"

"You could have helped me and made it easier to handle, dammit! You just sat there and. . ."

"Bitch, I told Samael to get the hell out before you dissed him anymore. The only reason why he hadn't broken yer neck is because you're my wife and I am sittin' right here. You insulted his culture to his face and humiliated him in front of me and his lover. . ."  
"Who is his SISTER!" Rakka snapped. "I can't believe that I'm the only one who sees incest as wrong!"

"Hey, I ain't right with it either, but those kids are gonna do what they want no matter what we say."

"And you should know because you were such a bad kid when you were a kid." Rakka muttered.

"Yeah, I know." Riddick replied steadily. "Rakka, go to bed. You're pissed and you're starting to piss me off."

Rakka wanted to say something else, to argue her point some more, but now she felt her fatigue pulling at her to sleep. "Fine, but this isn't over. I want you to do something about this."

"Rakka, I can't just. . .forget it. It's too late to contend with this bullshit anymore."


	72. Stress

Rakka didn't sleep well at all that night. She had a nightmare of where she attended Carol and Samael's wedding and Riddick was angry that he had to pay for the wedding from his own pocket since he was the closet thing to the bride's father. So he ended up slaughtering the guests for freeloading, the caterers for charging too much, and the wedding planner for a being a bigger bitch than Rakka, in his words. Then he took Rakka and Jack on the honeymoon vacation that had originally been meant for Carol and Samael.

It was a very scary, but yet a strange dream indeed.

Rakka woke up that morning next to Riddick. Since it was official that from now on they would be sharing their lives, home, and a bed together, they found that they actually could sleep side by side without sex. Though this didn't happen very often.

Riddick was lying on his side of the bed with both hands behind his head and his goggles on over his eyes. She got up and slipped into a thin morning. She went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Though Rera would have been more than happy to make breakfast for them and no doubt there was hundreds of servants available to serve the Lord Marshal, she couldn't help but feel better surrounded by familiarity. During her time on Yari, it was she who got up early in the morning and prepared the morning meal.

This familiarity helped her to function despite the pressure on her temples. She took a couple of painkillers to help with the headache. If only there were pills that could help with the pain she was feeling in her heart. Despite her weariness, she felt frustrated, angry, scared, worried, full of dread of the future, and just helpless about the whole situation.

She banged the skillet on the oven top and then snatched it up and practically threw it back into the cabinet. If Riddick wanted to eat, he knew where the pots and pans were as well as the food.

She stormed into the living room and threw herself into an armchair and commanded the vid to come on with a snarl. It flicked on and she sat in front of the vid where a morning talk show from a nearby planet was airing. She couldn't concentrate on what their topic of discussion, her mind on last night.

Why the hell didn't Riddick back her up? She couldn't help, but she feel that she had done all the work last night. If Riddick had only spoken up and exerted his authority then things would have gone a lot smoother and easier, but no, he had to sit on the fucking sideline and just watch her struggle. He loved to watch her struggle.

"What are you so bitched-face about?"

She started and looked up to see Riddick standing at the living room doorway wearing just his pants and goggles. She looked away and growled, "Put a shirt on, damn, this is not a brothel."

"Coulda fooled me the way we fucked each other the other day."

Rakka wasn't even going to grace that with a response. She kept her face away from him.

"I had Adrian arrange for you to have a doctor's appointment while Carol and Samael get their blood work done."

She swung her head around and said, "What? Why? Nothing is wrong with ME!"

"Bullshit. You must have lost twenty pounds in the last two days and you hardly slept last night. When was the last time you ate a meal and I talkin' about takin' a damn bite outta somethin'."

"Oh my, I loose some weight and have one bad night, why not skip the doctor's appointment and ship me off to the hospital. Strap me down on a table and let's operate."

"If you're pregnant, the weight loss will be bad. . ."

"DAMMIT!" She screamed and leapt to her feet. "I AM NOT PREGNANT!" She was so angry. She wanted to scream, throw things, and beat her fists against the wall till they bled. She snatched up a small decorative statuette of some Necro warrior holding a staff like weapon and threw it at his head. Riddick snapped his head to the side in time for the projectile to whiz past his ear. "YOU WOULD LOVE FOR ME TO BE PREGNANT!"

"What the fuck?" Riddick snarled, his voice sending promises of violence throughout the room.

"You just want me bare foot and pregnant like some fat cow spitting out babies and serving your ass."

Riddick threw his head back and muttered something under his breath. He settled his shoulders and ran his hands over his shaven head. He looked at her and said, "Rakka, calm your ass down. Think about it. We haven't used protection recently and you know how easily I knock you up. If you are pregnant, then it's somethin' we should know about so we can plan for it for once. And yer stressed. You've been stressin' for a long time, Rakka. I think since Jack was kidnapped from the hospital and since then you haven't had a break. You went through worrying about Jack, the custody thing, and finding out about being a princess and all the bullshit you had to deal with from Roland and now Carol and Samael."

Rakka turned away from him, her shoulders rose and fell at each deep breath, and crossed her arms. "Yes, I had a lot to deal with, but you know something. . . you could have made it easier for me, helped me, you know."

"Shit." Riddick hissed under his breath. "Gonna blame me everything?"

"Why not?" Rakka said rubbing the bridge of her nose. "You've kept things from me, threw stuff into my face, put me through bullshit, and you aren't there when I really needed you. You didn't step up last night with Carol and Samael, and I'll give you the fact that you did do something with Roland on Refu, yet now you're doing nothing. You let him hang around with Necros, live by himself in an apartment that he killed someone to get, and he never comes and sees me anymore. Like he doesn't want anything to do with me."

"Okay." Riddick threw his hands up. "Fine, just blame me for everything, but let me tell you somethin'." He took a step closer to her. "The reason there this shit going on about Carol and Samael is because YOU brought Carol onto this ship. I told you to stay on Refu."

Rakka turned and stared at him. "This is my fault?"

"Ain't it?" Riddick advanced on her. "If you hadn't brought Carol then she wouldn't be here with Samael and this shit wouldn't have happened."

"So I was supposed to leave her behind by herself! She has NO family, NO body that can take care of her!"

"Then you should have stayed on Refu with her. I didn't ask you to come here, in fact I told you to go to back to Refuge."

"You didn't tell me to go ANYWHERE!" Rakka yelled.

"I DIDN'T TELL YOU TO COME HERE!" Riddick roared towering over her.

"So you don't want me here anymore?" Rakka hissed. "You had your fun with me, now you want to ship me off so you can have fun with your waiting little harm of Necro whores?"

Riddick pointed a thick finger at her and said, "Don't put words in my mouth, bitch. This ain't you and me, this is about you being pregnant."

Rakka swung her hand. He caught her wrist and spun her around. Her shoulder blades hit his chest as she was held from behind. His folded his arms across her chest pinning her arms against her chest. He hugged her against him ignoring her kicking him with the heels of her feet.

"Rakka." He growled at her. "Stop it."

"Let go of me."

"Not until you calm down." Riddick held her tighter and said, "Dammit, look at you. Swingin' at me like that. You must be out of your mind. You need to be looked at."

"Get off!" She yelled kicking her feet forward. Riddick held her up with his arms until she stopped and set her feet on the floor near his.

"I'm gonna let you go, but if you swing at me again, I'm gonna lay you out on the floor whether you're pregnant or not."

Rakka swallowed her anger and took a deep breath. She nodded her head and Riddick released her. She stepped away rubbing her upper arms and breathing heavily.

"Rakka, just go to the doctor. If you're not pregnant, then I won't mess with you about it. It ain't somethin' to fight over, just go. Jack's going too. He needs to get his immunization or somethin'."

"Why didn't you tell me that to begin with?" Rakka turned her head to look at him. "I would have gone too and gotten a check while I was there."

Riddick stared at her for a few moments and then turned and left the room. Rakka heard him say, "Fuck this shit." As he went back to the bedroom.

* * *

Samael refused to leave the Basilica. He kept his stance on his Necromonger faith. Yet, when Riddick ordered him to at least give a blood sample for them to take to the health center.

Carol went quietly, but she didn't speak to or look at Rakka or Riddick. Jack, however seemed happy about going on a trip. He hummed and waved his arms from his carrier. Ayamu went along with a small group Necro guards. Thankfully, they weren't wearing their full armor, but they did wearing stiff uniforms and carried weapons.

They were getting a political greeting as Lord Marshal and as a Hitomian Princess. An escort was waiting at the landing pad to take them to a medical clinic. Carol began to become nervous and Rakka assured her that NO ONE knew about the problem happening between her and Samael.

Rakka whispered to her during the limo ride to the health clinic. "We told them that I wasn't feeling well and that I wanted a check up planet-side because the Necros medical skills aren't very up to date. Also, we aren't going to give them the full details."

"What about the doctors?"

"Doctor patient confidentiality." Rakka reminded her. "They break that oath and they loose their doctor's licenses. Also, if they say anything, I promise you that the Hitomian Government will come down on their asses if the Necromongers don't."

Carol nodded and she seemed to calm down a bit.

* * *

They were greeted at the Health Center by the President of Health, the Hospital's Director, and the Head Surgeon. The Health Center, on the planet Eron, was one of the finest, largest, most efficient, and most updated hospital within the five systems around it. It employed over two thousand doctors and five thousand nurses and health care professionals. It was constantly updating the medical equipment and utilities and treatments. It accepts over twenty million patients a year and also accepted patients from top politicians, presidents, and rulers.

The office smelled of clean, that clean smell that was so common in any hospital. Three well cushioned arm chairs were set up for Rakka, Riddick, and Carol. Rakka held Jack on her lap. She dressed him in a light blue one piece with teddy bears at the breasts. She even found little matching booties for him.

Rakka and Carol dressed up, but nothing too formal. Rakka wore a long skirt with a violet sweater with a collar. She wore white tennis shoes for comfort. Carol chose dress pants with a matching dress shirt with a coat.

Riddick wasn't wearing his usual black attire, but he wasn't wearing his Necro armor. He wore, actually wore, a suit. Rakka had stared at him when she first saw him dressed to go. He was actually in a light blue button up silk shirt with a dark over coat with matching pants. He was even wearing dark leather shoes with black socks. However, the goggles weren't replaced by shades. But they matched the suit wonderfully as they had with his black attire.

Rakka learned something about Riddick that she never knew. He looked damn good in a suit.

Sitting across from them, behind a long chestnut wooden table was the President of Health, the Hospital's Director, and the Head Surgeon were sitting side by side and grinning at them.

The President was a man in his early fifties with gray hair peppered with the dark hair from his youth. His face was shaven smooth and looked worn from age. He wore a dark business suit and had manicured hands.

The Director was younger in his late thirties. He wore thin glasses and his well styled hair was light brown. He had bright brown eyes that seemed to gleam from behind his glasses.

The Head Surgeon was a woman with blonde hair tied back away from her face into a tight bun. Glasses were perched at the end of her nose. She looked to be around age forty and she looked like she should be teaching an elementary class as a teacher.

"We are very to have you here, Princess Laotaner." The President grinned at her.

"Thank you, we are glad to be here." Rakka replied putting on her best smile. She couldn't help but notice the three nervously glancing at the Necromonger guards on both sides of the doorway. "We're not just here for me, I'm afraid."

The Director held up both hands and said, "There is no problem. We have enough facilities here to help you with whatever problem you may have."

"We would like for Jack, our son," Rakka gave Jack a little jostle introducing him, "needs a check up too and possibly his immunization. Also, Carol, my adopted niece needs. . .."

She bit her bottom lip and just decided to come out and say it. "She needs to have a DNA test to see if she is related to the person who gave us this sample." She held up a small container that she had placed in her purse. "This sample was taken from a young man who could be her long lost brother and it's something we would like to prove or hopefully disprove. And we would like this particular problem be divulged to a few people as possible."

"Yes, we understand." The President grinned. "It shouldn't be a problem. So who would like to go first?"

"Umm. . .if possible we would like to get the blood test results as soon as possible and I would like to be present with Jack during his checkup."

"Yes, of course, you are his mother." The Head Surgeon spoke for the first time. She had a high voice which sounded very much like a school teacher's.

* * *

Rakka offered Carol to sit with her while her blood is drawn and the results are given. Carol shook her head and told her that she would be fine alone. Rakka accepted this, but only because she and Riddick had made arrangements for the result to also be divulged to them behind Carol's back. She knew it was underhanded and lying to Carol, but it was a necessary evil.

Jack went through his check without a fuss. The doctors said he was healthy and was developing nicely. There were a few tears shed when they drew blood and gave Jack his immunization injections. Rakka held and rocked Jack till he stopped crying.

During this whole time Riddick was silent. She got the idea that maybe he was uncomfortable wearing a suit, but she was appreciative that he had actually dressed up to come with them. She even reached over and touched his hand while the doctor was checking Jack's heartbeat.

Then it was her turn. She handed Jack to Riddick and followed a doctor down the hall to an examination room. They were followed by two Necromongers and to Rakka's horror they entered the examining room behind them.

The doctor selected for her checkup was a woman with dark hair and eyes. She wore the lab coat and underneath it a medical uniform. "Wait, I'm afraid you gentlemen are going to have to wait outside. This is private exam and I will have to ask the lady to remove her clothes."

One of the Necros shook his head and said, "The Lord Marshal said that not to allow his wife out of our sight or protection."

Rakka groaned and said, "It's alright. Just stay there by the door, please and the doctor will exam me from behind the screen."

The same Necro shook his head and said, "If the doctor tries to kill you, we may not be able to get through the screen fast enough to keep you from injury. The Lord Marshal promised us that we would die before our time and not transcend to the Underverse."

Rakka took a deep breath and ignored the horrified and offended look on the doctor's face. "Then please have my husband come here. He can stand behind the screen with us."  
One of the Necros bowed and left the room. The doctor opened her mouth to protest and Rakka quickly said, "I'm sorry for all the problems. And I don't mind my husband seeing me naked, Lord knows, he's seen every nude inch of me and he might get a boner watching you, another woman, touching me."

The doctor blushed, actually her face went beet red and she looked away. Rakka was shocked at what she said and embarrassed and sorry. She opened her mouth to apologize, but the door opened and Riddick stepped through without Jack.

Rakka gave him a look and he said, "Gave Jack to a nurse and I have Ayamu and four Necros watching her ass. She ain't leavin' this hospital with our kid."

Rakka nodded and said, "Do you think you can act mature while the doctor exams me."

Riddick shrugged and a smile twisted his lips. "If the doctor acts mature, like NC-17 mature than I'd be willin' to join ya."

Rakka groaned and she swore that the doctor got a nose bleed.

Rakka removed her clothing and underwent the physical with Riddick watching from a chair in the corner. He did not pretend that he wasn't there.

"Ya know, Rakka, this is something I always imagined. You on the table naked on the table being prepped by a piece of sweet ass."

Rakka felt her soul leave her body and heard the doctor make a sound inside her throat. She had been listening to Rakka's blood flow around her heart with a small probe that rolled along the skin.

"Riddick, if you can't be in here without making any disgusting comments like that, then you can leave and let one of those Necros in here with me. At least they won't make any comments."

Riddick made a sound in his throat and said, "Be sure to find out if she's pregnant."

"I am not pregnant." Rakka snapped.

"We can still do a pregnancy test. We'll need a urinal sample anyway for the complete examination." The doctor said hastily.

"Fine." Rakka replied giving in.

"So have you been feeling any aches or pain?" The doctor asked.

"A little soreness every now and then, but I just take some pain killers and they go away. Also I would wake up in the morning with headaches."

"Have you been loosing or gaining weight in the last several months?"

"Loosing." Riddick replied.

"She asked me." Rakka said coolly. "I've been loosing a little bit of weight."

"And you've changed your diet or been exercising?"

"No, but I have been moving around a lot. I mean from home to home."

"You've had big experiences in your life lately?"

Rakka looked at Riddick and he looked back at her. "Yes, I have had a LOT of big experiences throughout my life."

* * *

The examination was finished and Rakka pulled her clothes back on.

"Rakka, ya know, we're in a doctor's examining room. . .one of the most popular scenes in any sex fantasy . . .I can go get a doctors coat and replay the checkup NC-17 style."

She shook her head, yet she couldn't help but hide a smile away from him. They had to wait twenty minutes before they were led into the Director's office for results. He greeted them with the same grin he held in the first meeting room. Standing beside his desk was the doctor who examined Rakka.

"Please, have a seat."

Rakka took a seat offered across from the desk, but Riddick remained standing by the doorway.

Rakka said, "Look, let's go ahead and get one thing settled. Am I pregnant?"

"No, you are not." The Director said. "In fact, you will be going through menopause very soon."

For one second, Rakka was thrilled. She was happy that she wasn't pregnant and that for once Riddick was wrong and she was right. Then it melted, bled away to numbness.

"Menopause? Wait. . .I'm . . I know I am not young, but I'm not old enough for menopause."

"I know, that's why it's called early menopause, better yet premature menopause. It's unusual, yes, but it does happen, however in your case it is unusual. We do not see history of any illness or surgery that could cause this nor is there any problems seen in your family history."

"Wha. . .this. . .I. . .God, I never expected to hear this. . .maybe I'm little stressed, but not that I'm going through menopause."

"You're already showing the emotional signs so the physical signs are sure to show up soon." The Director opened up a medical file and read through the list. "You have anxiety, irritability, mood swings, and fatigue."

"But those are signs of stress." Rakka said.

"Yes, but they are also signs of other illnesses." The Director explained. "We can run some more tests, but your pelvic scan tells the tale."

He swiveled around in his desk chair to a small screen set up behind him. He tapped a few keys at the bottom of it. Some images showed up from her pelvic scan from earlier. How Riddick had loved watching that.

She had to lie on her back on top of the table, hands by her side while the doctor slowly passed the scanner across her stomach. For this test, she had to take off her underwear and be completely nude.

"Just relax." The doctor said soothingly to her as she read the information being displayed on a small LCD on the top of the scanner. .

"It'll hurt at first, but after that yer gonna see stars, baby." Riddick muttered under his breath.

The Director pointed at the images and gave extensive explanations with words that Rakka couldn't understand. She shook her head and said, "Wait, just tell me straight. What is going on with me?"

"Your ovaries are shutting down." The Director said plainly.

"I thought menopause was when you run out of eggs." Rakka said clenching her hands together.

"Yes, that is true." The Director tilted his head. "When was the last time you've had a period."

Rakka thought back desperately. "I found out I was pregnant with Jack around this time last year. I've always had irregular periods. Sometimes I would go for months without having a period. Like maybe, six months. . ."

"Then are very lucky to be able to have two sons without having to resort to help for fertility."

"Thank you. . ." Rakka said swallowing. "So what do we do?"  
"Nothing for right, just get a second check up next month."

"Isn't there a way to. . .get my ovaries working again?" Rakka asked.

"I'm sorry, Princess Laotaner. Even though we have made leaps in medical science, the female body still contains mysteries we have yet to solve. Even I we managed to get your ovaries function normally; we cannot guarantee that you will be able to have another baby. At least a healthy one."

"No, that's. . .it's alright. . .I didn't mean that I wanted a baby. . .It's just. . .I'm a little shock."

"That's understandable."

"I know that every woman has to go through this, but. . .I guess I'm just going to go through it sooner than expected. I mean, I already have two great kids, so what do I need with more, right?"

"Right."

_Wrong._

"Let's move on. We have the DNA results for your niece." The Director said. He held up a folder and offered it out to her. "Would you like to view it privately or shall I read it out loud to you."

"Go ahead and read it out loud. We pretty much already know the answer, but we just wanted it confirmed."  
"Alright then, they proved positive. Both samples share the same genes resulting in siblings."

"Thank you, Director." Rakka nodded her head. "Thank you for all your help."

* * *

The shuttle home was uneventful, but there were changes. Rakka was no longer angry with Riddick, but was numb and silent. Carol's face was red and her eyes looked bleary as if she had a long cry earilier. Riddick said not a word, his face set in a hard grimness. Jack was the only one unchanged. He was the one with a clean check up after all.

After their shuttle boarded the Basilica, Rakka stood from her seat and took a deep breath. Riddick leaned forward to pick up Jack's carrier, but. . .

"Let me take him." Rakka said leaning forward to undo the thin belts that held Jack in place. She lifted him up into her arms and held him close to her chest. She gave him a warm kiss on his the chubby cheek and patted his back.

She carried Jack off the shuttle and down the ramp. Riddick followed with the carrier in hand, with Carol following slowly from behind. Rakka paused at the bottom of the ramp and turned to watch Carol descend the ramp.

"Carol." Rakka said, watching the girl step onto the floor. "Listen, we know about. . ."

"Of course, you know everything." Carol said in an empty tone.

Rakka swallowed and said, "Carol, I just want to know what is. . ."

"We'll talk about it. . .but. . .I don't know. . ."

"Alright." Rakka said nodding her head. She had problems of her own.

* * *

Rakka spent the rest of the day with Jack. Feeding, changing, bathing, and playing with him. She even rocked him to sleep and put him down in his crib. She watched him sleep for almost an hour before quietly leaving his nursery.

She entered the bedroom quite ready to sleep for the rest of the week. Riddick was there sitting on the bed sharpening a shiv. The shiv was curved into a hook with teeth. He had also changed back into his favorite outfit.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were here." Rakka said padding over to the vanity. She was still wearing the dress she had chosen to wear to the Health Center, but had removed the shoes for comfort. "I didn't hear you when you came in."

Riddick didn't respond, but kept his attention on the shiv. He ran a black stone along the edge of the blade making a soft shing sound. His goggles masked his eyes and he tilted his face downward as if in concentration or thought. He looked dangerous, full of potential violence, yet, she knew that was his regular look.

She checked herself in the vanity mirror and saw that her hair was a bit dishevel. She took up her brush and ran it through her hair. "What a day."

Riddick responded with a resounding shing from the shiv.

"I'm glad that Jack's healthy, and I hope that Carol will be alright." Rakka finished brushing her hair and set the brush aside. She looked over her shoulder at him and said, "What's wrong with you? Oh, I know. You just can't stand being wrong. I'm not pregnant, in fact, just the opposite."

Riddick didn't respond, however, he did lift his head as she removed her dress, hung it up neatly inside a wardrobe, and pull out a nightgown. Whether or not she was going to be wearing it when she woke up in the morning was up to him.

"You're just sulking, because the almighty Riddick is wrong. I think the world is going to end." She pulled on the nightgown. It was sleeveless, pale blue, and spaghetti shoulder straps hung onto her shoulders. It hung to her knees and it was thin enough to be see-through in bright enough light behind her.

"It doesn't bother me." Rakka said as she sat down in front of the vanity. She took up the hairbrush again and worked it through her hair. "I already had my kids. Roland, things aren't going very well right now, but I'm sure that we can work it out. Jack is just beautiful. Those two are more than enough for me.

"Every woman goes through this. I'm no different. I should be happy that I have two boys instead of no kids at all when I hit menopause. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just a natural part of being a woman. I guess I'm satisfied and happy."  
Riddick stopped sharpening his shiv and watched Rakka at the vanity through two black discs. Where her brushing was slow, gentle, and long, it became short, harsh, and quick. Then she threw her brush against the vanity mirror and by some miracle it didn't shatter from the impact. The brush bounced off the glass with a smack and clattered on the floor near the leg of the chair.

"Dammit!" Rakka whined, her voice breaking. "It shouldn't bother me. Shouldn't bother me at all! I'm 38 dammit! I'm too old to start having more kids."

"You were plannin' on havin' a third." Riddick spoke.

Rakka squeezed her eyes shut and salty droplets rolled down her cheeks. "Yeah. . .I don't know. . .I guess. . .I. . .Riddick, I always wanted a little girl. When I was a little girl, whenever my mother took me somewhere with her, people would always say how much we looked alike. I want to buy dolls, little dresses that match mine, those cheap plastic hair clips. I want that, Riddick. God, I wish you had been right about me being pregnant. I rather be pregnant than have menopause."

Riddick watched her cry for a minute and then said, "Might 'ave. Ya were suppose to. The bitch told me I was gonna have a daughter."

"What?"

"Nothin'."

"Don't get me wrong. I love Roland and Jack with all my heart and I would die before loosing them."

"I know, I know." Riddick said uneasily. This wasn't his thing. Fights, killing, infiltration, and a hundred other things were his thing, but this wasn't.

* * *

Carol went to Samael's apartment to tell him the news. They were brother and sister after all. Aunt Rakka had been right. She had been loving, kissing, and romancing with her brother for months. Thank God, they had chosen to remain chaste from each other.

She told him the blood test results. She sat on his couch and watched for his reaction. Would he be disgusted, horrified, or the same as he was last night?

He sat on the other end of the couch and stared at her. "Do you think that this should change anything between us?"

Carol swallow and said, "It should, Samael. I mean, we're brother and sister. Your Necromonger faith may make it mean nothing to you, but it means a lot to me."

"Carol, we have no siblings in the Necromonger Faith. In my eyes, you are the same young woman that I have come to love. Am I still the same man that you love?"

"Yes, but it is different now." Carol looked down at her hands folded on her lap. "I know what Aunt Rakka said last night offended you, but. . .I can't . . .I hate saying this. But I can't help but agree with her. You can blame the way I was raise, but I was brought up to regard incest as wrong and dirty."

"Carol, look at me."

She lifted her head and Samael touched her cheek. He leaned in and his lips touched hers. It was a normal thing to her. They have kissed so many times it was a natural to her as swallow, blinking, and breathing. She closed her eyes and her lips parted to accept his tongue. He leaned in against her and her body shift sideways on the cushioned couch. She was then on her back with him on top of her, their arms interlock around each other.

It felt so good, he felt so good. How could this be wrong?

_You are brother and sister, that's why._

She yelped against his mouth. She felt as if her skin was trying to tear away from her muscle and bones it crawled so much with disgust at herself. She shoved Samael away and rolled off the couch.

"Carol?"  
She couldn't speak, she had to get away and bathe.

"Carol?"

She stumbled and scratched to her feet and fled.

"CAROL!"  
His voice echoed after her as she as she ran weeping down the halls of the Basilica.

* * *

Rakka had gone to bed little over ten minutes ago. Riddick decided to let her sleep for tonight, this he was in the living room thinking.

He supposed the joke was on the Furyan Dream Bitch now. She had been wrong. There was no way he was going to get a daughter now, unless he went and knocked up some other woman. That's probably going to be the twist, someone else to have the third kid or some shit.

There was a buzzing at the door, signaling that someone was at the door. That might be the bitch he'd have to knock up now. He got up and strolled over to the door. He checked the vid screen to the right to see who it was.

"Aw shit, ya gotta be kiddin' me."

He pressed a seal and the door slipped open. Carol stared nervously at him with tear stained cheeks and red eyes. "Is Aunt Rakka here?"

"She's asleep."

"Oh. . .I. . .there's something she. . . and you, need to know. . .I mean. . .it's not about Samael and me. . . I . . . It's about Roland. . .something happened. . .he. . .he had. . ."

"I know." Riddick said plainly.

Carol stared at him blankly. "You know. . .?"

"Vaako told me."

"He did? When?"  
"When I took back my title. Lemme handle it and don't tell Roland I know."

She stared at him and said, "Aren't you going to tell Aunt Rakka?"

"She's going through a lot of shit right now. I'll tell her when I think she can handle it, but let me be the one to tell her."

"I don't think she can handle anything like this at any time." Carol said. "I mean when she hears that Roland had sex with Vaako's wife, she's going to go through the roof."

Riddick stared at her and said, "What made you want to come here and tell Rakka that now? After you had so many chances to tell her before?"

Carol looked away and crossed her arms over her chest. "I. . .I don't know."

"I do. Rakka gave you some bad news and now you want to dish some back at her."

Carol swallowed and said nothing.

"Lissen, it jest about tore her apart havin' ta tell ya about the shit going on between you and Samael. Would ya have find out now or years from now after you marry your brother and it's too late?"

Carol didn't respond. She kept facing the far wall as if he didn't exist.

"If it makes ya feel any better, Rakka found out from the doctor's office that she can't have anymore kids and she's all torn up about it."

"It doesn't!" Carol turned to him. "I'm mad and yes, I did want to get back at her, but. . .God. . ."

"Look, come back in the morning and talk with her." Riddick said.

"I have something to give you." Carol reached into her pocket and held up a metallic case. Riddick accepted it from her. "Rera said it just arrived today, but she hadn't had a chance to give it to Rakka."

Riddick pressed the seals on both side of the metallic case and it flipped open revealing two wedding rings and a little card. He held up the card and it read:

YOU TWO FORGOT THE DAMN RINGS. I'M SURE A LEASH WOULD WORK BETTER WITH HIM, TO KEEP HIM IN YOUR YARD, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. HOWEVER, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO CONTEND WITH A SIMPLE RING TO LET THE WOMEN KNOW THAT HE'S ALREADY OWNED.

Riddick figured that the card was meant for Rakka.

* * *

Roland's apartment was dark, just like Riddick's. There was no need for light when one could just as easily see in the darkness. The apartment was small, but big enough to please any teenage boy living by himself. In fact, he liked living alone.

He liked the freedom. He ate what he wanted, went to bed when he felt tired and slept in as long as he liked. However, the freedom was greatly restricted due to his training. He had to watch what he ate to keep his developing physique Also he needed plenty of rest to keep up with the rough training. More than once, being so sore from a rough training session, he threw himself onto the couch and just sleep for the rest of the day.

This day was one of those say when he couldn't make it to his bed. He was sprawled stomach down on the couch, his back rising and falling at each breath that he took. The area around his shoulder blades was stiff and protested each time he shifted his arms. He hated it whenever he strained his back. His instructor told him that the muscles in your back are possible the most used. You use them to walk, climb, carry, and especially to fight.

He would have loved nothing more than to take several painkillers and lay a hot healing sheet over his shoulder blades. He remembered when he had pulled his arm during basketball when he was fourteen. His mom gave him some medicine and. . .

No, pain was only an illusion created by the physical body to set limits on the spiritual self. In order to break through the limit, one has to build a higher threshold for the pain in order to rise to a higher plane.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. He didn't hear the door open and shut, a door he had made a habit of locking. He didn't know anyone was inside his apartment until soft cool hands touched his burning shoulders.

He jumped, his muscles screamed with protest as he tensed. He fought a scream that fought to escape his throat.

"Shhhh. . ." A sultry voice whispered above and behind him.

He swallowed and felt the pain ease away by her soothing hands on his him. "Wha. . . I thought. . . how did you. . . "

"Shhhh, darling, shhhhh . . ."

Her eyes shone like twin stars in the darkness. She wore a dark dress that seemed to blend into the darkness around and behind her. It clung to her shapely form and he swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Won't Vaako be mad?" He whispered his voice filled with uncertainty.

"He doesn't care. If he did, do you not think that he would have done more back then?" Her hands ran down his back. "Relax."

Roland still couldn't relax. "My mother. . ."

"Your mother? I thought you have long left the shadow of your parents. You acted as such. . .not too long ago. . ." Then he felt warm lips on his ear.

He closed his eyes and a smile touched his lips as Dame Vaako's hands slide down his lower back and squeezed his buttocks.


	73. Two

Two years past.

Many things changed, yet many things remained the same in those two years.

* * *

Rakka soon got over her depression about her early menopause and got over her disappointment of never having another child. She reminded herself something her mother had told her when she had been a child.

She had asked her mother why she couldn't have the expensive clothes that her school friends had had for school. Her mother had replied, "We should not waste our lives away wishing for things that we can not have, but be grateful for the things that we do have."

Rakka was grateful for her two sons (despite her estrangement from Roland) and for being able to be with Riddick despite the odds stacked against them.

Riddick neatly balanced his time as father and husband with being the Lord Marshal. The only times he ever missed dinner with Rakka and Jack was during important matters with the Necros, but these were few and were planned for. Rakka never figured him being successful as stepping into the role of a family man.

However, despite his new role, he was still Riddick, with the libido the size of a sun, the I-can-kill-you-and-get-a-good-night's-sleep attitude, and the occasionally calling her a bitch. Sadly, she wouldn't have him any other way.

The three Hitomians: Rera, Hera, and Ayamu at first had difficulty adjusting to life on the ship. Rera nearly developed an ulcer from the anxiety of living in the ship that has been the subject of so many horror tales told to her throughout her childhood and adulthood by adults that had lived through the disaster. However, she eventually got over her fears, but she doesn't go outside her apartment, but only to clean Rakka and Riddick's apartment and tend to Jack when needed.

Hera had some difficulties with the Necro guards. Since the Necromongers are a male controlled culture whereas Hera has come from a background which is heavily dominated by females, there were many instances when the cultures clashed. The guards didn't see the need in adhering to any of Hera's orders and Hera felt that she couldn't efficiently protect Rakka and Jack with the guards getting in the way. The dispute was settled by Riddick who calmed the guards sexism by telling them that he ordered Hera to take responsibility for his family's safety and since the order comes from him, a male and their Lord Marshal, disobeying Hera was the same as disobeying the Lord Marshal.

Ayamu was the only one of the Hitomians, other than Rakka, who mingled easily into the place aboard the Basilica. He acted as bodyguard, part time sitter for Jack, and friend to Rakka. Despite his appearance of blood red eyes, long jet black hair, and pale skin, he was quite friendly and likable.

Almost nothing had changed between Roland and his parents. Somehow, he and Rakka developed a truce that kept the peace between them. He came and visited her occasionally and she said nothing against his desire for Necroism.

Over the two years, Roland graduated from the training class and joined the Necro army as captain of a small squad of guards. Rakka was torn between disdain and pride when she found out, yet she couldn't make herself attend the ceremony giving Roland leadership over the squadron.

Jack. . .Jack was his own story. It was just fascinating to watch, as it had been watching Roland grow; discover the various uses for his limbs and the golden ability to speak. It wasn't too long before Rakka had combination seal locks on the door after she caught Jack dragging a chair up to door to press the seal that opened the door.

Almost everyday she got to see Jack perform a tiny, but significant miracle each time he played, spoke, and his brown eyes widen in understanding of something new or when he learned a new word.

He particular favorite one had been No. He had discovered that he too could use the word and have it heard. He firmly stated no matter what was spoken to him. He would say no to his favorite meal of chicken and mashed potatoes, he would say no to his father picking him up, and he would respond no if Rakka said hello, good morning, or good night.

This wasn't the life Rakka had imagined for herself or her family. In her girlhood, or better known as Pre-Riddick years inside her mind, she had imagined living in an apartment or in a small house in the countryside. Not living aboard a ship that had the universe wetting itself.

* * *

The planet had not yet been given name and plans for colonization were still in paperwork and board meetings. However, that didn't stop them from taking advantage of the beach on the southern part of its largest continent.

Rakka reclined back on the foam material of the lounge chair underneath the canopy set up to protect against the planet's rather large sun. She wore a one piece black bathing suit beneath shorts and a thin t-shirt. Her sandals were neatly set aside on the gleaming white sand right beside a cloth bag of unread novels, strong sun-block, and other necessities.

She crossed her ankles and watched two of the most important males in her life wade in the water. Riddick held Jack by the waist and held him so his head was above water. Riddick wore a dark pair of swimming trunks and damn if he didn't look sexy with wet sea water running over the valleys and canyons of his muscles and that bronzed skin gleaming in the sun at her.

Jack squealed with glee as Riddick lifted him up and over a surging wave. His kicking feet disturbed the perfect mound of the wave. He wore a mini pair of dark swimming trunks that matched Riddick's and they looked like a larger and mini versions of each other.

Rakka wasn't much for swimming . . . in fact she wasn't for swimming at all. She couldn't swim, being brought up in areas where swimming was considered not a very good idea to do due to polluted water. Jack had pulled at her hand begging her to go into the water with him and she did . . . to ankle deep depth.

"Rakka, take off the clothes and get in the water." Riddick ordered her as he lifted his son up onto his hip.

"No." Rakka snapped. "I don't want to get wet."

"Can't swim?" Riddick's eyebrows arched. This was something that would be news to him.

Prophetic visions of him picking her up and carrying her over to the deep end and throwing her further danced across her mind's eye and she shuddered. "I don't feel like getting into salty water and it clinging to my skin when it dries."

Better than just saying, 'because I don't want to get wet', but still transparent. She turned on her heel and returned to the canopy shade.

"Don't like the water?" Ayamu asked her.

She looked up to see their bodyguard standing just outside the canopy wearing thin cotton pants and a sleeveless white t-shirt. He had a gun holster complete with gun over the shirt.

"Can't swim." Rakka whispered with a finger over her lips.

Ayamu arched his dark eyebrows. This was news to him. "I didn't know that."

Rakka gave him a weak smile and turned her attention back to her husband and child in the ocean. "It's strange. Four years ago, I would not, in my wildest dreams, believe that I would be here watching Riddick playing with my second son."

"Me neither." Ayamu said watching the two also. "Believe or not, four years ago I joined the Royal Guard. You were practically my first assignment."

Rakka stared at him and said, "You are kidding."

Ayamu shook his head and said, "No, I kid you not." He reached into his pocket and retrieved a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. He held them up for her to see and said, "Do you mind?"  
She shook her head. "No, I don't mind." The canopy somehow tunneled a breeze through the tent and blew everything to the east of her.

Ayamu lit one up and took a short draw on it while he slipped the packet and lighter back into his pocket. "Ya know. . .we're a weird group."

Rakka furrowed her brow and said, "Ayamu, why don't you take a seat? I'm getting a crick in my neck looking up at you."

Ayamu shook his head. "Sorry, I can't get to my gun quick squatting on the sand."

"Then sit over here on the other lounge." Rakka patted the empty one beside her. "Riddick isn't going to use it. I don't know why we brought with us anyway."

Ayamu finally agreed to sit after he folded the lounge into an upright chair and bring it over to his position beside her. He balanced his ankle on his knee and leaned into the chair. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it, now what was this you were saying about us being a weird group?" Rakka shifted to get more comfortable.

"I didn't mean it to offend, but we're just weird." Ayamu began taking a quick puff on his smoke. "I mean you are the most important person to our people, our society, but you are just a normal Mom. I see you baking cookies before I could even start to imagine you ruling as a political leader."

Rakka had to smile. Inside she grimaced. Her memory took her two years back to when she told her grandmother about the doctor's diagnosis about her early menopause. At first, the old woman had been upset saying that it really upset matters, but determine the best thing would be to keep it quiet from Hitomian society until they could decide on what to do. So far, nothing has been decided.

Ayamu continued his explanation. "You're a pure blooded Hitomian, but you know nothing about the Hitomian culture. In fact, you even got a bad first impression of us."

Rakka had to smile and said, "It was pretty bad."

"And Riddick. . ." Ayamu stared ahead at Riddick throwing Jack up into the air and catching him as he hit the water. "Ya know, I could write a book about this guy. No a whole fucking series all about him."

"He is enigmatic." Rakka agreed staring at her husband's wide and muscled back.

As if he knew he was being talked about, Riddick turned with Jack held in his hands to look at them. He wore his goggles, which is a must in the bright morning sun which would have sent him screaming in pain if his eyes were revealed to it. Jack saw Rakka and waved at her, his small limb jerking back and forth.

Rakka grinned and waved back. She felt the Look wash over her. It was the common look that any husband gave whenever they see their wife alone and talking with another man. Ayamu had been apart of the family enough to reassure that he held no romantic or sexual inclinations toward Rakka. Still, however, it still warranted the occasional Look. He turned his attention back to lowering himself shoulder deep into the holder and letting Jack struggle through the waves but with hands close by to support him.

Rakka turned her attention aback to Ayamu and said, "Anyone else you consider weird in our group?"

"Yeah, me." Ayamu had a small smile as he stared off over the ocean.

Rakka licked the corner of her lips and said, "Your red eyes?"

"Partly." Ayamu replied taking another puff on his smoke. "They totally wigged out the kids on the playground in school, ya know."

Rakka gave him a weak smile and patted him on the arm. "What makes you weird?"  
Ayamu grinned and said, "I'm gay and a Hitomian guy. And I've been checking out your husband for the last twenty minutes."

Rakka stared at him. At first she believed it to be a joke, but then she realized that his face didn't crack up into a goofy grin and take back the statement. But he didn't. He kept his eyes on Riddick's body just as she had before she started this conversation with him.

She swallowed at a loss for words. Her mind fled back to when she met Ayamu and up to now. Now to think about it, she never saw Ayamu with anyone before. Never flirted with any girls nor even hung out with one. Yet, she never saw him around guys.

"You're shocked, aren't you?" Ayamu asked looking at her.

What could she say? Yes, she was stunned at his sudden admission.

"I'm not coming out on the closet on you. I've been out of the closet for years." Ayamu told her.

"That's nice." Was that the only thing she could say? Think dammit or he's going to think you're homophobic. "Ayamu, I'm stunned if that's what you're after."

She couldn't help, but be a little angry at him. How dare he just throw this on her out of the blue and shocking her? What did he expect? And why was he telling her now? He was really checking out Riddick?

Ayamu grinned and said, "I'm sorry. I guess the last thing anybody expects is for the person they're talking to come out and say they're gay, but I am."  
"Why tell me?" Rakka said staring at him.

"To see your reaction."

Okay, now she was really angry. "Okay, you got my reaction, now what?"  
"What do you think?"

"I don't know. I mean, I'm not against you being gay. That's fine with me. It's just that. . .I never knew you were gay." Rakka rubbed the bridge of her nose and said, "I never seen you with any men."

"That's cause for the last two years, I've been on duty protecting you and Necro men just ain't in my tastes."

"But Riddick is."

Ayamu shrugged. "He's beautiful man, Rakka. You are very lucky."

Rakka felt a quiver of jealousy. This guy was lusting after her husband. . .this GUY was LUSTING after her HUSBAND.

Sure, there had been more than one. . .more than five girls that have flirted with Riddick during trips to various planets to pick up supplies, baby clothes, and other needed things. Once, clothes store, while she was struggling with Jack's swinging feet to stuff them into a pair of shoes that she spied a sales clerk running her dainty little fingers up Riddick's arm and he wasn't doing anything to stop her. She didn't speak to Riddick that whole day.

She always figured that if there had been a man poking at their marriage; it would be because a man was coming onto her. Not a man coming onto Riddick. What would Riddick think about this? Once, many years ago in a Slam, he had hurt a man for touching him in the showers.

As if Ayamu knew what she was thinking, he spoke up. "I ain't plotting some scheme to take him away from you. He's married to you and I respect that. And I don't think that he's much too keen on guy-guy sex anymore."

"I know that." She replied. "Ayamu, what do you want by telling me this?"  
"Nothing, it's just that. . ." Ayamu scratched his cheek and said, "Do you know that I'm like one of a kind because I'm gay?"  
"Why is that?" Rakka said staring at him.

"Because I'm Hitomian. I'm from a race where for every boy born there is like seven girls being born. Everywhere I look there are women running things. Men ask me how I can be gay when there is a free woman where ever I look. Sometimes Hitomian women ask me the same thing."

Rakka looked at him and said, "I never thought of it like that."

Ayamu smiled at her and said, "That's what I'm talking about. You have the Hitomian eyes and petite ness, but you don't think or act like a Hitomian at all."

Rakka shifted uneasily on the lounge chair. He was right and he wasn't the only one to notice. Her great grandmother once told her that she acted more like a norm that she did as a Hitomian. Was that her fault? For her entire childhood and teen years, the only Hitomians she had known had been her parents. And even they weren't able to practice much of the Hitomian cultural activities.

Rakka looked down at her folded hands and said, "I know that and I'm sorry. It seems that every little well known bit about the Hitomian culture surprises me and I of everyone should be well familiar with it."

"Yeah." Ayamu said looking out over the ocean. "My family's alright with it now. I found out I was gay after high school and, boy, my mom hit the roof when I told her. During that time I moved in with this guy. At first, we were roommates and then before the month was out, he was my first boyfriend. We were together for almost two years then he graduated and returned to his home planet. We tried to continue the relationship, but long distance relationships don't work."

"I'm sorry." Rakka replied.

Ayamu shrugged and said, "It's alright. I'm long over it. I had a few other lovers."

Rakka parted her lips to speak, but then closed them. She licked her lips and then said, "Look, if you want. . .you can. . . you know. . .shop around for a guy. . .oh God. . ." She dropped her head into her hands and groaned.

Ayamu chuckled and said, "I'm sorry for making you so uncomfortable."

"You completely caught me off guard." Rakka said. "I feel like you sucker punched me while I wasn't looking."

Ayamu threw back his mane of dark hair and laughed. "I feel like I did the same to you."

"MOMMY!" Jack scampered and stumbled across the sand to her.

She leaned forward and scooped him up into her arms. She hugged his wet and salty body to her chest and gave him a bit kiss on the cheek. He tasted salty and gently spat onto the sand over her shoulder. "Did you have fun?"

"Yah!" Jack sat back on her lap and thrust a seashell into her face. "Dadee said to give dis to yoo."

Rakka accepted the soft pink shell. She ran her thumb over the smooth surface and said, "Thank you! It's so pretty."

She gave Jack another kiss on the cheek and settled him between her legs. Riddick dropped himself in the chair that Ayamu evacuated for him. He was wet and seemed to glow in the sun. Oh, she was so tempted to lift herself up and lick the droplets of water that rolled down his washboard stomach. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Ayamu staring at Riddick too.

She caught his eyes and he looked away. Damn him, why the hell did he have to go and complicate their friendship by admitting he was gay and saying he has a crush on Riddick.

Jack wiggled to get down and she lowered him onto the sand. He turned around and charged across the sand back toward the water. Rakka sat up and called after him.

"Jack! Don't go into the water without Mommy or Daddy with you."

Jack kept going without pausing or making any sign that his mother spoke. Rakka groaned and pushed herself up to her feet. They sank into the sand as she made her way after the two year old as he splashed in the swashing water. She caught his arm as he was about to go out deeper.

"Jack, Mommy told you not to go into the water." Rakka pulled him away from the water by the hand and knelt to confront him.

"I didn't hear yoo." Jack gave the excuse he always used when he completely disobey or ignores her. This was something he NEVER did with Riddick.

"Yes, you did." Rakka nodded her head. "You ignored Mommy and now you're going to have to sit with me for a few minutes before you can play some more."

"Nooooo." Jack whined as she lifted him up.

He kicked and struggled as Rakka carried him back to the canopy. Rakka held him tightly against her side and promptly placed him on the end of her lounge chair and sat down behind him.

"Don't move from that lounge, Jack." Rakka said in her Mean Mommy voice as soon as Jack's bottom left the end. "Or we'll pack up everything and go home right now.

Jack knew well enough that when Mommy spoke with that tone of voice, she means everything that she says. He crossed his arms and whimpered on the end of the lounge.

Rakka ignored his angry whimpers, but kept an eye on him incase he tries to make a break for it. "Riddick, are you alright?"

Riddick was patting himself dry with a towel and he shrugged. "Fine."

She reached out and touched his hand. "Thank you for coming with us. I know you're not comfortable in places like this."

"I thought you were gonna walk around half naked." Riddick replied.


	74. Ambition

Rakka leaned back and crossed her arms. She said softly to prevent Jack from overhearing, "Don't I walk around naked enough for you in the bedroom?"

Riddick scratched his chin and leaned against the back of the chair. Rakka looked at him and said, "You were planning on having sex with me on the beach. . ."

"I want up!" Jack asked behind him.

"One more minute, hon." Rakka replied. She leaned back to Riddick and whispered, "Not going to happen. The sand gets EVERYWHERE and into ANYTHING."

"Into what, Mama?" Jack looked over his shoulder at her with wide innocent eyes.

"Nothing, honey, go back in the sand, but stay away from the water." Rakka gave him a playful nudge with her foot.

Jack scooted off the lounge end and dropped himself onto the sand. Rakka watched him scratch around in the sand. He yanked out some digging toys from a kiddie bag near the legs of the lounge chair and start digging a hole that Rakka knew that she would surely trip in.

She felt hard fingers touch the back of her neck and then rough warmth of his palm as he closed his hand around the back of her neck. This was his way of telling her in front of Jack that he wanted sex.

She shrugged off his hand and hissed, "No, this is family time. We came here for Jack to have fun."

"Ayamu can watch 'im."

"And what if something happens and he needs or wants one of us." Rakka firm rule was kid first, sex second. More than once, when Jack's cry due to monsters, wetting the bed, or just wanting Mommy or Daddy, would reach their bedroom, Rakka would pull away from Riddick during intercourse to go. This was very, very much to Riddick's irritation. Rakka promised him that sixteen years from now, when Jack was grown up and moved out, he could fuck her brains out as much as he wanted.

"Rakka, we just gonna walk a few ways up the beach. Not leave the fuc. . .planet."

Another change that Riddick disliked was the swearing. He ignored Rakka's rebukes each time he dropped an F-bomb in front of Jack until the two year old started blasting Rakka with F-bombs one night when she gave him a time out for drawing on the wall with crayons. She finally broke Jack of the f-word by washing his mouth out with soap three times and scolding him, and even spanking him. She told Riddick to stop using that word around him because she wasn't willing to go through the whole cycle again with Jack.

Rakka looked at Riddick's body still damp with tiny beads of water still clinging to his skin and gave in. "Alright, let's just be quick and come right back, okay?"  
Riddick wrapped a large hand around her upper arm in a somewhat forceful and possessive manner. He looked at Ayamu and said, "Watch the kid for about half an hour."

Ayamu nodded.

Jack notice them getting up and bounced off from his digging. "Mommy, whare you going?"

"Mommy and Daddy are going somewhere for privacy." Rakka explain bending downward to give Jack a quick hug, "We'll be right back, but be good for Aya, okay?"

Aya was Jack's name for Ayamu.

"Okay." Jack replied and went back to digging at the sand. 'Privacy' meant nothing to him; it was just a grownup thing that had nothing to do with him.

"Ayamu, could you go into the water with him if he wants to?" Rakka asked not wanting to ruin her youngest's first trip to beach.

Ayamu nodded again.

Rakka folded her lounge chair into a neat perfect square which she held under her arm and let Riddick guide her down the beach. It was almost a ten minute walk before Riddick stopped her.

Before she began unfolding the lounge chair, her arm was caught roughly and she was spun around. She dropped the chair and she collided with the sand with Riddick atop of her, a shiv at her throat.

Where he had it hidden was beyond her. He reminded her of those cartoon girls, which insulted with magical have a mallet or some blunt object appear in their hand to smack their offender. Even half naked, Riddick is not without his shiv.

First came the few seconds of blind terror and then the easing calm. Riddick easily straddled her waste and pulled her right arm over across her chest and held it there with one hand. His other hand held the shiv against her neck. He leaned forward, his face inches from hers. His breath blew on her face tossing strands of her hair and grains of sand.

She swallowed and said, "I'm too old for this game, Riddick."

"Yer only forty." Riddick flicked his tongue across her lips.

"And you're supposed to be fifty or sixty." She bit her lip and sucked in breath. Riddick pushed himself away from her and stared at her.

This was something that had begun to bother Rakka since her fortieth birthday. No, maybe long before her last birthday. She had aged. Her copperish blonde hair was graying along her hair line and crow's feet appeared around her eyes and mouth. She couldn't help, but notice that parts of her body, which had been proudly perky and tight, was beginning to sag. It was getting harder to maintain her shape. She actually had to take time to work out on exercise and diet for the first time since she gave birth to Roland.

Riddick on the other hand looked the same as the night she met him. Not one thing out of place, not one white speck upon his stubbles, not one age line on his face, and his body was still the Grecian sculpture's dream. Viagra was NEVER an issue in their sex life.

Lately, she had become embarrassed when they were in public together. He looked ten to twenty years younger than her. One event made her realize the apparent difference in looks of age until one day while they were on planet side shopping. She made Riddick come with her on the promise that she would shop for lingerie for herself and he see her try them on . . . and possibly have a quickie in the changing rooms . . . which none of these things took place.

* * *

She was in the lingerie department shopping for a nightie. Of course, Riddick had to throw in his remarks about each garment she looked at and had the gall to say why bother with lingerie. He preferred her naked anyway.

"Then why the hell did you want to come see me shop for lingerie, then?" Rakka glared at him.

Riddick didn't reply, but he did give her his sly smile as if he had won a victory over her. Out of anger, she stormed away to another part of the store where socks and plain white panties were kept. She pretended to search through them while she fumed at Riddick. He stood around a short distance from her, silently celebrating his victory over her.

Why he wanted to agitate her, she had no idea.

As she was about to calm down and return to Riddick, a young woman entered the store and spotted Riddick. She was wearing a tightly fitting black dress with black spiked high heels. Her dark hair formed a mass of tight black curls around her head and they gleamed as if she had smear hair gel through them earlier. Her makeup was perfectly blended to her pale skin tone and she looked at Riddick as if she was a wolf that just spotted a deer.

She was a girl looking for a man and she spotted the one she wanted.

Rakka held her breath and pretended that she was comparing price tags. She watched the girl, in her early twenties, maybe she looked like she was in her early twenties, approach Riddick.

Riddick knew she was there, Rakka knew he knew, yet he feigned surprise when the girl touched his shoulder.

"Hey." The girl held an accent that Rakka was unable to place. "I can't help, but notice that. . .you're the only guy here. . .and ya don't look like the type that likes bikini underwear."

What the hell kind of pick up line was that? Rakka would never dream of coming up to a man like Riddick and. . .talking like that. She would have left it off as the only guy here'. This girl was confident to think she could still fly with that line.

Riddick had his head tilted toward her and there was a relaxation about his large frame which told Rakka that this girl aroused him. Rakka clenched her teeth and kept watch on Riddick.

This was always something shaky between them. Though they were married, there were some things she couldn't control over Riddick. He was a very sexual animal and since their marriage, Rakka isn't sure whether or not he has been faithful. She was so unnerved by it that one night before she was ready to bed, she gave him the same deal she had with Terry.

"Riddick, if you do sleep with someone else, then please don't sleep with any of my girlfriends or with any of the help okay. Try to sleep with woman of whom I'll never have contact with. I don't want anyone laughing at me behind my back nor do I want to loose any friends because you can't keep your dick in your pants."

Riddick chuckled and replied with that he didn't she was bi since she had girlfriends.

This girl was perfectly legal for Riddick to take if he had chosen to follow the deal that Rakka had offered. She couldn't stop him. Sure, she could go over there and claim Riddick as hers, which was her first instinct, but then. . .it was strange to put it this way. Riddick was such a force that it shouldn't belong to just her. It was selfish and seems like cutting of the wings of an eagle or some shit like that.

Secondly, she wanted to see whether or not she was going to be very pissed at Riddick for the rest of the day.

"The bikini underwear goes on her ass." She could feel Riddick motioning toward her. She fiercely pretended that she was unaware of them, yet she knew that Riddick knew she was very aware of them.

"That's so sweet. Shopping with your mother."

Two things happened inside Rakka's head at that moment at the same time. The world stopped and it came crashing down around her. She couldn't move and her eyes burned and there was a humming sound inside her ears. Her cheek bones felt hard as if rocks were being packed behind the skin.

She wanted to do so many things at that moment. Look in a mirror. Tell that bitch back there to go to hell. Ask Riddick what she looked like to him. She wanted to ignore what was said.

Yet, she took the coward's way out. She fled.

As she exited the store Hera, who had been standing guard at the exit stared at her quizzically and Rakka shook her head to stop any questions. All she said to Hera was, "I'm going back to the Basilica."

She left the planet without Riddick. He must have stayed behind to fuck that skuzzy slutty cheap skank. In fact, she hopes the skank had something really nasty and Riddick caught it.

When she was finally escorted back to her their living quarters she struggled with herself not to look at her image in the mirror. It was a defeating battle as she went to Riddick and hers bedroom to the full length mirror attached to the wall on the right side of the closet.

Her eyes traced the age lines on her face. Her body was still slender, but it was no longer. . .firm and there were also some sagging. Her breasts weren't as perky as they once were.

When did this happen? Was she too busy trying to be a mother to Jack and Roland that she got old without realizing it?

She felt so embarrassed and shamed of herself that wished she had something to cover the mirror so she wouldn't have to look at herself. She changed into a nightgown and went to bed early leaving a year old Jack with Rera.

It was just before she was in that stage of sleep before you slip into darkness and become unaware of one's surroundings that Riddick came back. He startled her by suddenly gripping her arm and shaking it.

"Wha. . .Riddick?" She sat up despite the bad shock to her system. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'm married." Riddick replied sourly.

"Ha, ha, ha, I hope you had fun with the slut." Rakka replied. "I hope you used a condom. And I hope you showered, better yet, go sleep on the couch, I don't want that street trash's leftovers."

There was that cold silence and pin prick knowledge that she had said the wrong thing. Her stomach rolled as she was lifted into the air by two invincible arms. She shriek and she kicked her legs wildly and beat her fists against his shoulder and arm.

He was carrying her into the living room and he dropped her onto the couch. She bounced on it before she settled onto it clinging to the back and the arm. Riddick caught her by the shoulder, shoved forward, and pinned her shoulders to the arm of the couch. He knelt over her and brought his face close to her. His face looked like it was chiseled out of steel, like if a rock was thrown at it, it would hit and crumple against his cheek.

His hand restrained her against the arm and it was beginning to hurt her. She struggled against his hand, but he tightened and she feared that he would break her collarbone with one hand.

"Stupid bitch." He growled at her. "Do you actually think I want to pick up trash off the street?"

She winced; she was definitely going to have bruises later. She was willing to bet money on that. "Let go." She said through clenched teeth.

"Not yet." Riddick said coolly as his other hand touched her knee. She felt the calloused hand scoot up her thigh.

"No, Riddick, don't." She twisted her legs away.

His hand slips under her skirt and she feels it groping along her inner thighs. She twisted, but the hand on her shoulder anchored to the couch. She could only use what movement she could to remove Riddick's intruding hand.

"Stop it, Riddick." She muttered. She clenched her thighs tightly together, but hand and fingers snaked between them and hard fingers prodded her crotch through her panties. "I really mean it this time, quit it!"

This time she swung at him. It was something she should have known bettr than to do by now, but for some reason; it was something she just never learned. Riddick caught the arm and she was flipped over onto her stomach.

For almost five seconds she was afraid Riddick was going to suffocate her into the couch cushion. She twisted her head and sucked in air through her mouth. Then she realized her position. Riddick had her on her stomach with her hands trapped in one of his hands behind her back. He was atop of her and her skirt was shoved up to her waist and her panties were down at her knees.

She was enraged and afraid and aroused at the same time. She struggled and Riddick's grip on her wrists tightened. His free hand was grouping her thighs, ass, and genitals. She was definitely being molested . . . and in some sick and perverse way, she loved it as much as she hated it.

But she knew that Riddick was just loving every minute of this. His hand not only explored her lower body, but her back and hair also. Hard fingers pushed her face back into the couch cushion. Then he stopped touching her and she heard a zip and a jingle.

Shit, he was undoing his pants. He was actually going to screw her right here on the couch like this. His knee was forcing her thighs apart and the grip on her wrists loosened.

She swallowed and wrenched her arms. Her right hand came free and she used that one to push her upper body off the couch. She was wrenched around while she fell, nearly dislocating her arm. She was on her ass with Riddick on the couch with her wrist in a vice like grip in his fist.

"Nice move." Riddick commented as he towed her back to him by the arm.

"Stop it!"

Riddick dropped off the couch and onto her. She shoved at his hands and arms, but Riddick bore down on her. Her shoulders were pinned to the floor by her throat and his other hand grabbed at the neck of her nightgown. She struggled to remove the grip at her throat and prevent her nightgown from being torn apart. It was a loosing battle.

A rip preceded cool air touching her breasts. The shoulder straps were pulled until they were snapped off her shoulders. Then she was wearing her nightgown as a belt around her waist.

"Stop it!" She screamed again.

"Damn, you're a fuckin' wild cat." Riddick snarled at her with a smile baring his teeth.

Rakka force herself to stop struggling knowing that this was turning Riddick on more than it is dissuading him. She needed to think, not fight back. There was no way in hell was she going to fight Riddick off or outmaneuver him. Think, what would make Riddick stop doing this to her.

"I wonder what Jack would think if he saw Daddy raping Mommy?" She ventured.

Riddick didn't loose his grin at all. Not one bit. "Nice try, bitch. Jack ain't here and this ain't rape unless YOU make it rape. You're the one makin' this into rape."

Rakka stared at him in disbelief. "That has got to be the most horrible and ugliest thing you have ever said to me."

Riddick bent forward and flicked his tongue across her lips. "I love the game too, bitch."

"Game?" She twisted her head away from his wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "You think this is game? Dammit! This is NOT a game to me."

Riddick released her throat and leaned back allowing her the freedom that she had struggled so hard to regain. She sat up and pulled her ruined nightgown up over her breasts.

"You left the store after that skank thought you were my mother." Riddick said as he bent a knee to his chest and the other one folded beneath it. He leaned against the couch in a relaxed position, but Rakka knew that he could lunge into a killing stance at the instant that there is a threat.

"My feelings get hurt and you try to cheer me up by raping me?" Rakka stared at him in shock. "I know you had a rough life and a very different upbringing from mine, but I would have imagined that you would know better than this shit."

Riddick didn't look at her, nor did the relax and bored expression on his face change. He said, "Can you imagine me doin' any of this with that skank?"

No, she didn't. She could imagine Riddick slamming himself into that woman beneath him. She closed her eyes and forced the hurtful images from her mind's eyes. "No."

"Alright." Riddick said as if it answered everything.

"Alright? Riddick, I still don't get it." Rakka shrugged her shoulders. "What? What are you trying to tell me? Why don't you come right out and say it?"

Riddick didn't reply for almost a full minute. He kept looking forward through his goggles and then he finally said, "Back there with that woman, I could have gotten it easily as much as I wanted it and how I wanted it from her. Yet, here I am, fighting you to get some even though there's over a thousand women on this ship ready to put out when I want I want 'em too."

Rakka mulled this over through her head for a minute and said, "Riddick, that's the strangest way of telling someone you love them."

She leaned against his arm and smiled despite herself. They were the most unusual married couple in the universe, but damned, if they weren't happy and satisfied with each other. Her hand touched his arm and on her finger there was a gold band. On Riddick's hand, which was open flat palm down on the floor, there was a similar gold band there too.

* * *

That memory flooded back to Rakka's mind as she looked up at her husband who was still atop her with a shiv at her throat. She swallowed and opened her mouth to suggest that they go back, but Riddick snarled.

"If I grew a fucking beard and get arthritis would that make you happy?" Riddick asked her steadily. "If I go around old and weak is that going to stop you from being embarrassed around me?"

"I'm not embarrassed." Rakka quickly replied. Too quickly.

"Hunh." Riddick grunted as he pushed himself off her and removing the shiv from her throat.

"Riddick, I'm sorry, but you have to admit, you don't look a day over thirty and I know you have got to be around fifty years old." She sat up sitting on the sand.

"Bitch, it's from all cryo I've been sittin' as an inmate. I've been shipped from Slam to Slam in cryo units and on Butcher's Bay I spent a whole fuckin' year in cryo with two minutes of exercise a day."

"I know, you told me." Rakka said. "Look, let's just forget I said anything and let's not let this ruin the day for us."

Riddick flicked his wrist and held the shiv in the sunlight. The light beamed into her eyes and she squinted, temporarily blinding her.

"Take off the clothes."

Rakka didn't refuse or fight it. She indulgently removed her t-shirt and shorts and tossed them into a pile a few feet away. Her dry one piece black suit was what was left and she was about to slip the straps off her shoulders, but Riddick stopped her.

He caught her hand and held it in a firm grip. He other hand came around her back and urged her closer to, almost sliding her across the sand. He leaned forward and Rakka leaned backward for a kiss, but it wasn't her lips he was aiming for.

He flicked his tongue over the small area of the suit where her right nipple was. The sensation of his warm wet tongue probing her nipple through the fabric of the swim suit felt surprisingly good; as it did when he tugged on the nipple through the fabric. She lifted her hands up to smooth palms along fuzz on his shaved head. He gave her other nipple the same treatment and he passed between them for the next several minutes while she panted and held her lower body begged for attention.

Then Riddick lifted his head and looked into her eyes. She couldn't see his due to his goggles, but she could feel those silvery eyes penetrating hers.

"Hold still."

Hold still for what?

Riddick, which had remained in his hand this whole time, lifted the shiv and placed the sharp tip on the fabric of the swimsuit on her left breast to the left side of her nipple. She froze and sucked in and held her breath. Riddick put his other hand on her shoulder and steadied her while he, with great craftsmanship, sliced easily and smoothly through the elastic fabric. Her body did a small static jump as the sharp blade glazed over each of her nipples.

This wasn't the first time nor will it be the last time he would use a shiv during sex.

Her breasts fell out of the large slit and she felt so awkward. It looked ugly for her tits to be hanging out like this.

Then Riddick touched her breasts and it felt beautiful. The feel of his lips, teeth, and tongue on her peaked nipples. Her fingers dug into his scalp urging his face into her flesh. She was in pure ecstasy when his hard fingers tugged on her nipples by the teats while his rough thumb rubbed the tips. Her crotch actually throbbed for him.

He was moving her back away from him when all she wanted to do was to press herself against him, smash her breasts against his hard chest, as if she could step into his body.

"Turn around."

"No. . ." She whispered, her eyes glazed over with sex. She wanted to keep looking at his chiseled bronzed body and just fill his heat against her skin.

"Turn around." He repeated in a harder voice.

She opened. She scooted around on her knees till her back was facing him. There was a firm push on her back and it press on till she was forward on her hands and knees. What's next?

"Be very still." Riddick said from behind her and then she knew what was next/

She inhaled and tensed her muscles scared of moving so much as an inch. She heard the sand whistle as he scooted closer behind her. She felt her fabric around her clit being pinched by a thumb and forefinger, accidentally catching a bit of her flesh along with it. He gave a quick tug which hurt a bit at first, but it freed the skin from his grip.

She held her breath while Riddick carefully pushed the tip of the shiv through the fabric and sliced it along toward her anus. She lightly felt the tip of the blade glaze her most sensitive flesh and she shuddered. Fortunately, that cold and sharp feeling was replaced by rough fingers stroking her.

She leaned forward, putting weight on her elbows and spreading her thighs further apart. His fingers teased her clit and she pressed her cheek against her arm. Her breath tossed grains of sand about and she closed her eyes as a deft finger slid easily inside her.

The sand felt gritty, but warm against her breasts. It felt almost as good as the thick finger inside her, talently stroking her g-spot. She heard him shift behind her and she felt her heart race with anticipation.

After the shuffling sound of him pushing his trunks to his thighs, she felt his rub the head against the source of her wetness. She rolled her hips backward toward him, wanting him to put it in.

He leaned forward and in one smooth move, caught her arm and rolled her onto her back. While she was dizzy from the sudden movement and changed position, he lunged forward penetrating her pressing his body against her at once. She leaned her head back into the sand and groan a guttural sound in her throat. Riddick nipped her jaw and withdrew to push forward deep inside her. Each time he pushed into her, it was as if everything inside her body was trying to jump out of her along with her soul.

A few minutes, she came. White fluid drizzled from her body and oozed around Riddick's pumping cock and drizzle between her buttocks. It seeped into the sand into white crusted pearls. Riddick came deeply inside her and she welcomed the warmth from within her.

She laid back into the sand, pleasantly exhausted. Riddick lay atop of her and she could feel his deep and tiring sighs above and against her. Rakka drew her arms around him and held him close and inhaled his musky scent.

"Good fuck?" She asked.

"Hell yeah."

* * *

Back on the Basilica. . .

Roland waited nervously within the dining room of one Chronis, a former advisor to his father, the Lord Marshal. The room was dark with black walls and an opal floor. The center was cut into the floor and it consisted of two cushions for seats and an upraised disc for a table. Roland was seated on one of these cushions. There were dais of food

He wore black silken robes with silver trimming and silver ornaments on his arms and fingers. He forsook his old black goggles, which looked too much like Riddick's, and now done a silver metal frame dark shades. He allowed enough hair to grow at the back of his head which he braided into a long dreadlock which hung down his back.

He had put on some height during his two years as a soldier for the Necromonger forces. He was now a head taller than Rakka, but he was still shorter than Riddick. During his training and workouts, he was developing a nice physique, though he had a long way to go to match Riddick's.

The doors slid open to emit Chronis and two serving girls on either side of him. Chronis wore a deep hue of purple robes with gold trimming. His white hair was neatly combed away from his face and he gave Roland a grandfatherly smile.

"Welcome, my Child." Chronis said, his eyes gleaming. "Please, think of my dwelling as yours in as is The Faith."

Roland got to his feet and gave Chronis a loyal bow and murmured a Necromonger greeting. "Thank you for inviting me; this is the first time I've been inside your home."

"Think nothing of it, my Child." Chronis stepped lightly across the room and took the seat across from Roland. The serving girls went to dais of food and began preparing their plates. Tell me, how is your lovely mother?"

Roland swallowed. Talking about his mother always made him uncomfortable. "She's alright, as she could be married to. . .Riddick."

"I see." Chronis said with a smile. "At least, it won't be for much longer."

Roland gave a nervous smile and said, "Is it still going as planned?"

"Yes, preparations are being made as we speak. We just need to be sure you can do your part."

Roland swallowed a growing lump in his throat. "About that. . .I. . .I have doubts that I can perform such an act."

Chronis licked his upper lip, this was something he had anticipated. "Roland, you must understand that this is for the great good for the Faith."

"Yes, I know." Roland replied. "And I'd like nothing better than for rectification of the Faith, but. . ."

Chronis nodded and said, "I completely understand the hesitation, she is after all, your mother."  
"Yes." Roland said glad that Chronis is so understanding. He would be perfect as the next Lord Marshal.

"You do understand that your mother's life with not be at any risk at all." Chronis assured him.

"But there is a chance for harm to befall her."

"That would be tragic, but in the overall, the rewards will more than make up for the sacrifices."

Roland nodded and said, "I will pray on this, but, forgive, but I don't think I can. . ."

Chronis held up his hand in a soothing manner and said, "Please, be at peace and meditate on your decision. I'm sure the answer will come to you."

Chronis anticipated Roland's hesitation and he planned for it also.

* * *

Rakka pulled on the shirt and shorts after she removed her ruined swimsuit. She bunched up the suit and stuffed it into her deep pocket. She walked back to the set up beside Riddick, but not hand in hand. They never went anywhere hand in hand.

"Mommy! Daddy!" A happy voice squealed.

Jack was wading in the water holding onto Ayamu's hand. He let go of his hand and splashed through the water and stumbled through the sand to them. Riddick leaned forward and caught his son in both hands and tossed him up into the air. Rakka's heart leapt into her throat as Jack's small body was airborne and she had visions of Riddick missing and Jack smashing into the sand. Then Riddick deftly caught him and held him to his chest.

Jack was squealing with delight, and begged for Riddick to toss him again. Rakka touched Riddick's arm to prevent another toss. "Were you a good boy?"  
Jack supported his weight on Riddick's chest with his hands and looked at his mother, "Yea, was Daddy good?"

Rakka touched his arm and said, "Daddy was very good."

Riddick began choking on a laugh. Jack looked confused and said, "Wat so funny?"

Though the vacation was meant to be relaxing, when they got back to the Basilica, Rakka wanted nothing more than to take a nap. Jack, of course, wanted to stay longer so he had to be carried back to the ship while he whined. Rakka had to promise that they would come back one day soon to get him to stop.

Riddick was more than happy to get dressed in his black attire. While he and Ayamu were piloting the ship back to the Basilica, Rakka made sure that Jack was buckled safely in his seat. She came to the front between Riddick and Ayamu and touched Riddick's arm.

She gave his shoulder a kiss and said, "Want to drop Jack off at Rera's and spend some time alone for a few hours?"

Riddick licked his upper lip and said, "Love to, darlin', but I gotta get back to the court. They think the damn Armada's gonna fall out of the sky if I'm off it for more than an hour."

"After?" Rakka pressed her lips against his neck.

"Yeah, after."

"Mommy!"

"I have to go." Rakka said reluctantly removing her hands from Riddick's skin.

As she stood straight, she saw Ayamu quickly snatching his head to look forward through the windshield. She looked at him for a second and then made her way to the back of the ship where Jack was securely fastened into his kiddie seat.

"I gotta go potty!" Jack said kicking his bare feet.

"Alright." Rakka bent down and began to undo the buckles. "Why didn't you tell Mommy you had to go potty before I strapped you into you seat?"

"I don know." Jack replied. "I saw yoo kissie Daddy on tha neck."

Rakka smiled and lifted Jack from the seat. "Mommy likes to give Daddy kissies."


	75. Knowledge

Rakka lay on the cool sheets of her beds, eyes closed, and body relaxed. She had handed Jack over to Rera for a bath, dinner, and bed. She felt a bit guilty about passing her son off to a twenty-four hour nanny or babysitter, but it sure was convenient whenever she and Riddick alone time.

She had taken herself a small shower and made sure to wash her hair thoroughly. She was surprised at how much sand had clung to her skin and hair. She even used a douche to make sure no sand was _inside_ her during having sex with Riddick on the sand.

Afterwards she had a small snack of some fruit imported from the planet below. She had to pick away from the large seeds located on the outside of the fruit. She threw them away in the trash and ate the apple tasting fruit in the center.

She threw on one of Riddick's white t-shirts, which hung limply off her narrow shoulders, and went to bed. She smiled into the pillow, feeling the foam of the bed accustomed to her weight giving her comfort and taking weight off her body. Her face snuggled into the memory foam pillow and the weightless, yet warm sheets were tucked snugly around her. She even turned on the small stereo and listened to the ancient classical, Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.

She thought about her life. There had been hard times, but they now seemed like a distant memory; a bad dream. Things were . . . better now? Roland came over every now and then and visited, but she could still feel the huge gap between them. She was afraid to approach him, to try and feel that gap for fear that she would loose him forever. So far, Riddick had prevented him from receiving a Mark, but what exactly was the Mark?

She knew it resulted in two scars on either side of the neck and once she asked Riddick how one received the Mark and he replied, "You wouldn't wanna know."

However, despite the comfort, she couldn't help, but feel a constant trill of fear onboard this ship. This was the ship that destroyed her native planet, killed billions of innocent people, killed her friends and everyone on Yari, and took her son from her.

She thought about it a lot; about asking Riddick to move into a nice home on some remote planet. Get that nice little house somewhere . . . no, for right now it was best to be quiet about it and just roll with it for now. Jack was happy, the Hitomians (Hera, Rera, and Ayamu) were alright, Carol was getting along alright, and this was where Riddick can do the most good. Also, Roland was here and at an age of 18 has a career for himself.

Eighteen. Her son was 18 years old. No longer a boy, but a young man. 18 years ago, she was in a colony clinic giving birth to him and now he's a captain of a squad of Necros. He wasn't going to leave them, so leaving the Basilica would involve leaving him. She wasn't willing to give him up yet.

Before she could drift off into merciful sleep and worry about her dilemmas another time, a signal starting chirping. She opened her blue-violet eyes and looked across the bed at the LEDs. A light was blinking beside the sign for the door. Someone was at the door. She groaned and thought it might be Rera and Jack wanted something from his nursery.

Rakka rolled groaning from her bed and pulled on a blue pair of loose cotton shorts and padded to the living room door. She checked the small screen on the side and her eyes widen. At the door was none other than Chronis himself.

It took her several minutes to recognize him. She had only seen him once or twice when she attended a Necromonger celebration at Riddick's side as his wife. It was only to make an appearance to show Riddick's strength for that it would look like a weakness if she wasn't there. They had never spoken, she only seen him from across the banquet room.

Once, she had seen Roland sitting by his side, across the grand hall. It hurt to see him there so far away from his own parents. She sworn she saw him look up and look directly at her and gave her a meaningful look.

What the hell was Chronis doing outside her door?  
"Mrs. Riddick?"

Damn, she forgot that the monitor was two way and she must have stood there looking like an idiot.

"Yes?"

"May I come in?" The son of a bitch was giving her a fatherly look.

"Why do you want to come in here?" Rakka asked, not caring if it was a stupid question or not.

"I understand the resentment you may bear against me, but I would really like to have private counsel with you."

"You can say what you have to say out there." Rakka said in a harsh tone.

"What I have to tell, cannot be said out here in public."

"Then why the hell should I allow you in here? You already tried to have my husband killed and didn't care if my eldest was hurt in the process!"

Chronis actually held a look of regret in his eyes and he even bowed his head. "Lady, it is true that I did attempt to have Riddick remove, but you must agree with me that he hasn't acted up to par with the role of Lord Marshal. He hasn't completed the Pilgrimage to the Underverse, there has been too few conversions under his rule."

"All the better. You killed his home planet and mine." Rakka said steely.

"All in accordance with our Faith." Chronis explained. "However, I did not come to debate our way of life with you. I came concerning your son."

"What about him? He smartened up to your schemes?" Rakka barked. "He's no longer doing what you want?"

"I care about the boy." Chronis said. "He's like the son I never had."

"Bullshit." Rakka said through her teeth.

Whether or not Chronis heard her, he continued, "I discovered something that has greatly concerned me and it is something that you, as his mother, must know."

Rakka took a deep breath and said, "What is it?"

"It's something I can't say out here in public. I'm sure you would agree when I hear what I have to say."

Rakka swallowed and said, "Alright, but if something happens to me, you know what Riddick will do to you."

"I am fully aware of what the Lord Marshal is capable of."

Rakka, before she allowed Chronis inside, when and changed. She threw on a pair of loose jeans, and put on a bra and a t-shirt that fit better with loafers. She wasn't going to dress up for him, but nor was she going to let him think she was some lazy ill-dress slob.

She knew Riddick would be angry with her for letting this man into their home. However, there was something in the man's voice, a tremor of worried concern over Roland. He was alone and she knew that he had NOTHING to gain by killing her. It wouldn't get rid of Riddick or get his position back. It wouldn't endear Roland anymore to him. However, she found the shiv Riddick had given her hidden under the mattress and slipped it into her pocket.

She let him inside, but did not offer him a seat nor anything to eat or drink. "State your business and then get the hell out."

Chronis didn't respond to her apparent rudeness, he tilted his head and said, "Roland has been involved with someone."

Rakka arched her eyebrows and shifted her weight on her feet. "Alright. He's 18 now. It's not unusual for him to have a little girlfriend."

Chronis shook his head as if Rakka was a child who had made a mistake. "No, I mean that he is. . .having relations. . .with someone."

Rakka swallowed and allowed the thought to enter into her mind. "He's. . .having sex with someone?"

Then a flash of a sight entered into her mind's eye. Roland, nude, with a woman. Touching her, kissing her, and then. . . Rakka snapped the thought out of her brain, yet it had already done its damage. She wasn't happy about it, yet there was nothing she could do. Her mind flashed back to when he was a baby, a toddler, and a child. For a second, for an instant, she felt as if her son was being molested.

"As I said, he's eighteen years old." Rakka said stiffly.

"With someone older than you." Chronis said dropping one of the shoes. "Since he was fifteen years old."

She was 40 years old. Roland was eighteen. She felt the ice spread along her face and skin. It would be like her having sex with a fifteen year old. . .her son had SEX when he was FIFTEEN years old. Some woman has touched him in his most private areas, the areas that only she, his mother, had touched bathing and caring for him. See him naked, been intimidate with him.

Scenes flashed through her mind with a torrent of emotions following. Bathing him as a baby, changing his diaper and clothes, singing happy birthday to him, praising him for good grades in school, comforting him whenever he was hurt or dismayed, and watching him play in the yard or at school zipped through her mind.

"Since he was fifteen?"

"Yes." Chronis said gravely. "I'm afraid boys that age are. . .how can I say this? More unsure of themselves sexually. It makes it easier for elder woman to manipulate them."

"Who?" Rakka had to know, had to ask.

"I. . ." Chronis hesitated. "I am afraid to tell you."

"No, you're not." Rakka said sharply.

"This woman has a very powerful husband."

The woman was MARRIED! "So do I. Who is she?"

"I want your word that you did not hear of this from me, please." Chronis said in a pleading tone.

"Fine, tell me who." She dug her nails in to her arms.

"Dame Vaako."

Rakka closed her eyes and felt the watering warmth building behind her eyelids. "For three years?"

"Yes."

"How. . .how often?" She heard her voice crack.

"If Roland isn't busy, two to three times a week."

"When did this start? How?"  
"I'm afraid you'll have to ask the girl, who use to be Samaiel's lover. Her name was Carol, correct?"

"Why would she know?"

"Was she not Roland's best friend at one time?"

Rakka took shuddering deep breaths and said, "How do I know that you're not lying?"

"If you do not believe me, my dear, ask Carol. See what she knows."

"Get out." Rakka said pointing at the door. "You've done your damage, now you can leave."

Chronis took a deep bow toward her and said, "I came not to commit any harm toward you. I came to enlighten you of what is happening with Roland. I do care about the boy, I sincerely do. Dame Vaako is merely using him for her own desires. Whether it is sexual lust or hopes that he one day can overcome Riddick and take his place as Lord Marshal."

"Whatever the hell is going on, it stops." Rakka said with finality in her voice.

Chronis again bowed and Rakka wished to hell he would fall and break and fucking hip while taking a bow. "I trust that there will be no mention of my divulging this information to you, milady?"

"Whatever." Rakka hissed. "Get out."

* * *

Rakka could hardly do anything after Chronis left. Anytime she set herself to do something, such as change her clothes, take a relaxing bath for her nerves, attempt to call Carol or Riddick, she would halt herself and panic.

It seemed like something Dame Vaako would do, but Roland was smart, he would know better. Yet, he is a teenage boy and they do tend to think with their dicks more than with their brains. How would Carol know any of this? And if she did know, why would she keep it a secret? Was Chronis lying? Just trying to throw apart their family? If that was his aim, then there was a hundred things he could have done, however . . . why tell her a lie? Or tell her anything when he had had so little contact with her in previous years?

The only why was she going to get any answers to any of these questions, was to call Carol over the com and ask her to come here and explain herself.

After her hard breakup with her brother, Samaiel, she had spent several depressing months cooped away in her room in Rera's apartment. After that, she practically threw herself into her schooling provided by the Net. Because of her hard work and dedication, she was able to graduate high school with a 4.0 and was midway through college courses, yet her major was undetermined. She hasn't really taken an interest in anything other than her education since the DNA blood test.

Yet, what if Carol backed up Chronis' story? Ignorance is bliss. To think she was having such a good time on the beach earlier today and now she was in torment. Were they having sex now? What if that bitch gave him some sort of disease? Three years? This had been going on for three whole years behind her back?  
She paced the living room, not able to sit down for more than a minute to rest legs from pacing. She couldn't think without unwanted images flaring through her mind.

Her heart nearly stopped when the door slid open emitting Riddick carrying Jack under one arm. Jack was laughing kicking his short legs and clutching Riddick's arm restraining his small body against his side. "Mommy!"

Rakka couldn't help but smile at her still innocent son, Jack. "Hey, honey, were you a good for Aunt Rera?"

Riddick Jack to the floor Jack to the floor and turned around. He typed a few keys on the small console with monitor. Before Rakka could say anything, Jack threw himself at her legs and clung to them, babbling about his time at Rera's.

"Ree Ree said she don like oshin." Jack chattered.

"Well, then we're going to have to take her to the beach and show her what she's missing out on." Rakka replied smoothing his baby soft hair out of his eyes.

"Tomarow?" Jack asked hopefully.

"No, not tomorrow. But maybe one day soon, okay?" Rakka assured him. "Do you want to have some dinner?"

"Yah." Jack bobbed his head.

Rakka lifted him up and carried him into the kitchen. She kept her eye on Riddick through the doorway though.

Riddick was filing through the visitors logged on the door. Adrian had it rigged to automatically take an image of whomever ringed the doorbell so that way Riddick can keep a log of who ever came to the door. He was going to see. . .too late.

His head popped up and looked at her through his obsidian goggles. From the set of his face, she could tell that he had a few things he wanted to say to her.

She pretended like she didn't see the hard look and concentrated on fixing some dinner for Jack. She went through the cabinets and selected a children's dinner pack. She popped it into a heater and during the two minute wait of the food being heated up, she poured some apple juice into a sippy cup and set it in front of Jack. Jack had been sitting on his booster seat, of which he had proudly grown into not too long ago.

He accepted his juice and happily too a long drink. However, he turned his face in disgust away from the dinner plate Rakka set in front of him.

"No, Mommy, I doun wan dis." Jack attempted to push the plate away.

"But you like chicken." Rakka said looking at his meal. "See." She pointed at the strips of grilled chicken. In the corners were peas, potatoes, and a small roll.

"Not dis chiken." Jack whined. "It doun hav skeen."

"Jack, its grilled chicken. It's just as good as fried chicken."

"I still doun wan it." Jack said stubbornly.

Rakka crossed her arms and felt her teeth clench. She was already in a bad mood already from the revelation thrown at her from Chronis, the soon to be bad argument from Riddick, and now this. "Well, Jack, I guess you have a choice to make. Eat this or go without. Your choice, because I'm not making you anything else."

Jack's bottom lip stuck out and his eyebrows furrow. He held a look that looked remarkable like Riddick's when he's about to go into battle. "No!"

"Fine then." Rakka deftly picked up the dinner plate. "I'll give this back to when you get hungry enough to want it."

"Mommy, yer mean!" Jack wailed at her as she carried the plate over to the heater and put it inside for it to stay warm.

Rakka, having been a mother for almost twenty years knew not to react to that comment. As she headed to the doorway of the kitchen, Riddick stepped inside and caught her arm in a firm grip.

"We need to talk." Riddick said in a dead serious gravelly voice.

She said nothing and allowed him to tow her just outside the kitchen doorway. Outside out Jack's hearing, but kept Jack within sight.

"Why the fuckin' hell did ya let that fucker, Chronis, at the door?" Riddick growled at her.

Rakka swallowed a lump in her throat and said, "He told me something very interesting."

Riddick stared at her. She could feel the weight of his eyes on her face. "The door log says that several minutes after the image was recorded, the door was opened."

"I let him in." Rakka said just ready to go ahead with the firing of the guns.

Riddick inhaled deeply and said in a strangely tired tone. "Rakka, you are a great deal smarter than this shit."

Riddick was probably being more calm since Jack was just inside the kitchen.

"I know. Riddick, I know. . .but he told me something."

"What? What the hell did he have to tell you that you would risk lettin' 'im in here where he could have shot you to death and me not here to stop him."

"He told me that Roland was. . .was having sex with Dame Vaako. Is that true?"  
There was a deafening silence between them. The only thing that could be heard was Jack banging his spoon on the table and singing his favorite nursery rhyme as loud as he could.

"That sonuvbitch." Riddick hissed.

Rakka swallowed a hard and painful lump in her throat and whispered, "It's true. . .isn't it. It's been happening for three years without me knowing. But somehow. . .you knew about this. You've known about this and kept it from me for three years."

Suddenly, she was angry, sad, tired, depressed, hurt, and shocked at the same time. And that banging spoon was grating on her last string of sanity. Suddenly, she found herself charging into the kitchen.

She stopped by Jack's chair, snatched the spoon from his small hand and slapped him. Her hand slapped across his back so hard, her palm stung from the impact which fueled her anger enough to shout, "GODDAMMIT, JACK, STOP BANGING THE FUCKING SPOON!"

Jack sat stunned. His eyes wide and his mouth opened in an O of surprise. Then a heartbreaking wail emitted from his stretched lips and it made Rakka want to cut her own heart out.

She dropped the spoon and was about to bend down to Jack's level to comfort him, but then Riddick was there. He lifted up the hurt child into his bulky arms and held him to his hard chest.

Without a word, he carried Jack toward the nursery while Rakka stayed behind feeling horrible and empty at the same time. She sat in the chair next to the one Jack had occupied before she attacked him.

She cried softly and could faintly hear Jack's sob from across the suite. If she listened carefully, she could hear Riddick muttering softly to him. Fifteen minutes passed and Rakka still felt as wretched as if she had just hit Jack.

Riddick came back. He walked calmly into the kitchen and stood a few steps away from her. There was repeat of the deafening silence they had had earlier, except this time it was over a different child.

"Rakka." Riddick started and she lifted her tear stained face to look up at him. He looked tired and empty too which was a strange thing to see in him. "If you wanna hit and scream at me, do it. I can take it, but the one who can't take it is Jack."

"I am so sorry." Rakka whispered. "How bad did I hurt him?"

"He ain't gonna bruise, but he's scared. He thought you slapped him for not wanting his chicken."

"I am so sorry." Rakka said rubbing her face.

"Tell him that. You didn't slap me. . .yet."

"I feel like it." Rakka said. "Now you tell me what you know about what that woman has been doing with our son."

Riddick tilted his head back as if he was praying. "Rakka, let's not. . ."

"Oh no!" Rakka snapped standing to her feet almost overturning her chair. "Let's get this out right now! We already got an innocent bystander caught in the fire. Let's go ahead and get this battle on."

"Fine, bitch, whatever you want." Riddick said.

"I want to know if this has been happening since Roland has been 15 years old."

"Yes." Riddick responded.

"Is it still happening?"

"Yes."

"And how did you know about this?"  
"Vaako told me when I retook the ship. The first time was a week after Roland and Carol was taken from the Yari, then after that Roland started training."

"So she 'seduced' Roland into. . .this whole Necromonger shit." Rakka buried her face into her hands and moaned like an animal into her palms. She had always wondered what in the universe was it that made Roland take the path he took. Now she knew and understood.

"Now I have another question." Rakka said calmly which surprised her because she felt like screaming. "And I want you to answer it. No bullshitting with me. Why did you keep this from me? And why haven't you And please be honest with me, you owe me that much."

Riddick ran his tongue along his upper lip and said, "Rakka, when I found out that this shit was going on, I did something about it. I got Roland off the Basilica and away from the Necros and that bitch. I took him and Carol to Refu and had meant for you to take them somewhere else after I divorced you."

"You. . .you had been planning on divorcing me?" Rakka said stunned.

"Lemme finish." Riddick clipped at her. "Then you boarded the Basilica and tore up the divorce papers. I had hoped that since Chronis' coup went down the toilet that she wouldn't want anymore to do with Roland, but I guess I was wrong. She's either doing it to have young dick or out of spite toward me."

"Out of spite? Does she have something against you?"

"Yeah, it was because of me that her husband didn't become the next Lord Marshal."

"I feel that this is a long story, so please make it short okay. I want to concentrate on what she's doing to Roland."

Riddick ran his finger across his brow as of scratching an itch and said, "I told you about how I became Lord Marshal, right? Around that time, Dame Vaako was pushing her husband into assassinating the last one. I beat 'im to it."

"Alright, then why haven't you done anything else about this?" Rakka yelled.

"Rakka, look at me." Riddick said staring hard at her. "I may carry the title of Lord Marshal, but it's very tedious. 90 percent of the fucks on this heap don't think I'm a real Lord Marshal until I go on this fucked up pilgrimage to the Underverse. Only thin' keeping them from revoltin'. . .again. . .is that I'm one tough fucker and their faith to follow the Lord Marshal even if I haven't set one foot near the Underverse. All they need is an excuse to start trouble and a lot will see it more than enough for me to mess with Dame Vaako. She's the top socialite of their social circles and there's no telling how many lovers she has on the side."

"What about Vaako? Surely, he's not happy about his wife cheating on him!"

"Not much he can do." Riddick said running a hand over his shaved head. "In Necro laws, they don't have divorce. They have one way of breaking up a marriage and it's death. One man wants another man's wife; he kills the husband and claims her as his own. If Vaako tries to stop her, he has to start watching his back because she'll send all her lovers out to kill him to get her as there own. Even before this shit, he didn't have much control over the bitch."

"But he could have stopped Roland. Vaako could told him to stay away from his wife." Rakka wailed helplessly.

"The reason why he doesn't kill him is out of respect for me and the reason why I don't kill his wife is because of his respect for me." Riddick pulled up a chair and lowered himself onto it. "He's one of the few Necros who is one hundred percent behind me and he's been helpin' me ever since I took the throne. Which is surprisin' because he did try to kill me before the Lord Marshal shit."

"This is stupid! None of that makes any sense."

"It's Necromonger politics. It not s'pose to make any sense."

Rakka didn't care about that; she cared about what was happening now. "Okay, you couldn't do anything to that slut, but what about Roland? Didn't you tell him not to have anything to do with her?"

"Rakka, he didn't want anythin' to do with me then as he does now. He was a teenage boy, hell he still is. He was going to have sex anyway he can have it and if I told him to stay the hell away from that bitch, he would have wanted sex from her more just out spite."

Rakka gave two handfuls of hair against her scalp and pulled lightly. She let the small pain clear her head and for a second clear away the pain. "Now my final question and this is the important one, Riddick. Why didn't you tell me?"

Riddick exhaled slowly through his mouth and said, "Around that time, you couldn't handle the news or any more bad news. You found out you were a princess, there was the marriage thing with the Hitomian Court, you were having a hard time with Jack and the education, not to mention the shit with Roland, Carol and Samael, your menopause, and I can name a hundred other stuff. You don't realize how stressed out you were. I didn't want the shit happening with Roland and Dame Vaako be what gave you a breakdown. I wanted to wait."

"So you had been planning on telling me?" Rakka said with an arched eyebrow. "What kept you?"

"Dammit, Rakka, what the hell do you want me to say? You couldn't handle it!"

"Just tell me the truth. YOU didn't want handle it!" Rakka snapped.

"Now this is bullshit." Riddick got up from the table.

"Is it? It's easier to just pretend it isn't happening then to deal with it." Rakka stalked after him as he left the kitchen. He wasn't going to escape this, no sir. "What's wrong, Riddick? You're never afraid to face anything before!"

Riddick rounded on her. "I don't know how to take care of this! ALRIGHT! FUCK IT! I didn't know what do to. I got Roland away from it, but you brought him back to it. It was part of the reason why I wanted to annul our marriage!"

"So this is my fault?" Rakka shrieked. "If I had known, or better yet, if you had TOLD me, then I NEVER would have brought him back on this ship! All you had to do was tell me and then we would not be having this argument."

"Because you would be livin' somewhere else." Riddick said plainly and very tired.

There was another silence between them. Rakka rubbed her temples and said, "Riddick. . ."

"Rakka, the only time I ever dealt with a teenager was when one was stupid enough to try and fuck with me. Then I don't think you'll like it if I handle Roland the same way, though I sometimes think it's best if I cripple 'im. Be easier to control."

Rakka took a soothing breath and said, "Riddick, I don't know anymore than you about handling a teenager. Remember, Roland is our first child and our first teen. More than once, I've felt that crippling him might be a good idea."

There was another silence. This time was to let the anger ebb away and to calm their minds for the next difficulties they'll have to face.

"Okay." Rakka said breaking the silence and ready to tackle the next challenge. "We know how it started and how it happened, but not let's think of how we're going to fix it."

"That's easier said than done." Riddick replied.

"Isn't everything?" Rakka sighed. "I want this affair to stop and I am going to have long talk with Roland one way or another. I want you to make that woman stay away from our son."

"Rakka, I can't. As long as Roland is willing to accept her, she's not doing anything wrong by Necro laws."

"She had sex with a minor!"

"This is really going to bother you. The Necros have no laws against having sex with children."

Rakka stared at him, not sure that she heard him correctly. "You mean to tell me that pedophilia is legal with them?"

Riddick tilted his head and said, "It's legal, but it's not encourage and is looked down upon in this culture."

"I would fucking hope so!" Rakka snapped. "What kind of people don't have a law against raping kids?"

"The kind that doesn't have children." Riddick explained. "Think about it. Would a desert planet make laws against polluting the water if they don't have any water?"

"God. . ." Rakka whispered. "And I have Jack. . ."

"Rakka, just because there's ain't a law against it, don't mean that everyone on this heap is a child fucker. Secondly, everyone knows not to fuck around with Jack. Why do you think they steer clear of this area of the ship? Something happens to Jack we'll suspect the one last seen in this area."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." Rakka growled. "This ship brings nothing, but misery."

Riddick didn't disagree with her.

"Riddick, Chronis also told me that Carol knew all along about. . .Roland and Dame Vaako. Is that true?"

"Yeah, she was . . . she was gonna tell you two years ago, but I stopped 'er. Don't be too hard on her; at least she was willing to come forward earlier."

Rakka lowered her head and said, "She was Roland's best friend around that time. So maybe she can give me an insight on how this started."


	76. Quarrel

Carol pored over her text book and data-pad. She typed in a few notes and made a few quotes. She pushed her thin framed glasses further up her nose and nipple the end of her stylus.

Her bedroom was dark save for the glowing lamp overhead her desk. She sat in the four wheel chair wearing loose sweat pants and thin long sleeve night shirt gave her comfort and warmth from the light chill that refuses to leave its lingering presence within the Basilica.

What was the best way to prove Rief Triger's theory on how to use energy from a dying star can help power an entire planet's electrical system?

As she was about to jot down a note, the comlink at her elbow started beeping snatching her from her train of thought. She groaned, feeling agitated and annoyed. She lifted up the comlink and while she was doing so she checked the time. It was late; 11:00 at night. Who was calling her at this hour?

She held it to her ear and said, "Hey?"  
"Carol, this is Rakka." Said a very tired voice on the com.

"Aunt Rakka!" Carol said setting her stylus aside. "What's going on?"

"Carol, we need to talk about Roland."

Carol silently groaned. What has Roland said or done now? "What happened?"

"It's not what happened. It's what has been happening right under my nose. Roland has been sleeping Dame Vaako. . .since he was fifteen."

Carol felt her temples start to buzz and her brain felt empty. As empty as if she hadn't been studying advanced college science material just moments ago; as if she had been doing nothing but existed. The strangest sensation glided up her arms and into her chest in light shockwaves. It was like cold ice water being poured into her veins heading toward her heart.

"Carol?"

She couldn't speak. Her lips parted, but nothing came to her lips. Her mind echoed with words however.

_I'm sorry. He made me promise not to tell anyone. I wanted to tell you, but Mr. Riddick told me not to. I'm so sorry. Please don't be mad at me. I wanted to tell you. But I promised. I didn't mean to keep it from you._

"Carol, are you there?"

"Yes." She managed to squeak. Damn, what was wrong with her? She could write a 50 page paper with detailed outline, complex thesis statement, and an elaborate bibliography on physics, but now all she could offer was one small word at a time.

"You and I need to talk." Rakka continued somberly as if she very tired herself.

"Yes."

"But not now, okay? This is too important for it to be over the com."

"Okay."

"We both need to rest up for what's going to happen tomorrow."

"Yes."

"I mean, the shit may hit the fan."

"Yes."

"But I want you to come over early, okay? I think you know how this started."

"Okay."

"And, Carol, honey, I'm not mad at you, okay? I was at first, then Riddick told me what he told you and. . ." There was a long pause. "I'm not mad." It sounded like Rakka was telling herself that more than she was telling Carol.

"Okay."

"Good night, Carol."

"Night."

Carol hung up the com and stared at the comlink unblinkingly. Shit. Rakka was right, shit was going to hit the fan and so much more.

* * *

Rakka spent almost an hour making it up to Jack for hitting him. She read him his favorite story three times and played his favorite game with him before rocking him to sleep.

She didn't sleep. She couldn't sleep. Her mind kept coming back to Roland and Dame Vaako. How the hell was she going to be able to face it all tomorrow? Oh, sorry, today. It was 12:30 now in the morning.

Riddick didn't go to bed; instead he stared at her from the couch with interest. She felt drained of all emotions and it was as if she had run a long way. She would rub her face and take deep breaths to calm her nerves. However, from constant experience, she knew that this was useless. No matter what she did to calm herself; it was only temporary, nor did it make the problem go away. Shit, this was something that was never going to go away.

She was angry and frustrated at everyone. She couldn't help but still felt like they let this happen. Riddick, fuck, Riddick could have done so much more to stop this. Vaako could have stopped his damn wife is he wanted to. Carol could have talked to Roland, made him see what he was doing was wrong. Hell, ANYBODY could have stopped this, but they wouldn't. What was worse, no one told her.

She would have done something if someone had just told her. Screw them for not telling her. How the hell can she take care of her children if people kept shit from her?

"Rakka, siddown." Riddick's voice broke through the miasma of her mind.

"No." She paced up passing him and he reached out and his fingertips brushed her thigh. She scooted back as if he burned her. "Riddick, dammit, I'm not in the mood for sex right now."

"As much as I would like to tap that ass, I ain't talkin' sex."

"I can't calm down, Riddick, I just can't. I feel like a shook up bottle of soda. All my emotions are fizzing out of me and I can't stop them." Rakka rubbed her temples as she felt a wave of emotion pass over her followed by a slight throbbing headache.

"Rakka?"  
'I'm okay." She replied. "I just need to get something for my head."

"Shit. Fucking migraines."

"It is not a migraine." Rakka padded into the bedroom where the connecting bathroom promised painkillers. To her annoyance, Riddick moved from the couch with the animal grace that she was so familiar with and followed her into the bedroom.

"You know what makes a really good painkiller?"

Rakka glared at him over her shoulder. "You said you weren't interested in sex."

"I said I wasn't talkin' sex." Riddick replied.

Rakka stepped into the bathroom and slid open the cabinet. There was a small assortment of medicines for cold, fever, cuts and scrapes, and for headaches. Rakka selected a particular strong brand and popped the top off. She shook three light blue tablets into her palm. It was one more than was the normal dosage.

"Rakka, dammit, you're already pill poppin'." Riddick growled at her.

"Riddick, it's only three tablets!" Rakka snapped. She threw them into her mouth and leaned forward while turning on the facet. She cupped her hands under the drizzling water and sipped enough to let her comfortably swallow the pills and stood straight.

"I've seen this shit too many times in foster homes." Riddick muttered.

"Jesus, it's just painkillers for a freaking headache." Rakka snapped. "I'm not drug abuser, okay, I'm just stressed."

"Just like two years ago from all the piled up shit." Riddick muttered, his fingers gliding over his shaven scalp. "Take somethin' that'll make you sleep."

"I can't. If I take a sedative, I'll be out all morning and be too groggy to do anything tomorrow." She turned and slid past Riddick out of the bathroom.

"Then sleep tomorrow." Riddick followed her out of the bedroom and into the living again. "Fuck it, Rakka, don't rush into it. You plannin' on ambushing Roland tomorrow or some shit like that? You do that and yer gonna make it worse than it needs to be."

"I was fucking ambushed this afternoon by that man!" Rakka yelled and pointed at the door as if Chronis himself was standing there.

"FUCKIN' THINK ABOUT IT!" Riddick snarled at her and she froze at his ferocity that would stop a rampaging bull in its tracks. "Why do you think he told you?"

Rakka was taken back, momentarily stunned. "He. . .he said that he. . .was concerned about Roland . . ."

"And you believed that bullshit!" Riddick said with disgust staining his graveled voice.

"Of course not!" Rakka snapped. "I'm not that stupid."

"You could have fuckin' fooled me!" Riddick replied. "Lettin' 'im in this room like that. And lissen ta 'im spew shit at you. Rakka, he's up to some shit tellin' you all of sudden when everyone knew all this time."

There was a long silence and Rakka stared at him feeling weight down as if he was throwing rocks on top of her. "Everyone knew?"

Riddick shifted his large frame and said, "Yeah, everyone knew."

"Hera and Ayamu?" Rakka felt her soul fleeing her body as the realization took its place.

"How the fuck could they not find out? They've hung out with the soldiers and guards who fuckin' admire Roland for screwin' the Second in Command's wife."

"Then. . ."  
"I told them not to tell you. Hera needed more convincing, but I made 'er see that it would be best if you heard it from me when I think you could handle it. She's been givin' me the skank eye ever since."

"So everyone has been laughing at me." Rakka felt her stomach lurch and her throat filled.

She ran forward past Riddick and into the bedroom. She barely made it in time before she on lurched over the toilet throwing up. For once, she was glad that Riddick left the toilet seat up.

She gasped for air as she finished. She pressed her cheek against cool porcelain lid and spat out the sour taste clinging to her tongue. Riddick's footsteps on the tile floor made her wince inside with embarrassment at being seen like this.

"When was the last time you threw up like this?" Riddick's voice threw into her head.

"I don't know." Rakka groaned.

She heard him take a few steps and then the facet at the sink started running.

"Here."

She lifted her head and saw him offering her a damp bath cloth. She leaned one elbow on the toilet lid and accepted it. She wiped her face and mouth and pushed herself up to stand. She flushed the toilet and tossed the bath cloth into a dirty laundry waste basket against the far wall.

"Rakka, don't deal with Roland, okay. Look at you. You haven't seen him and yer already tore up."

"I wouldn't have to if you'd only dealt with this years ago." Rakka said through gritted teeth. She stepped over to the facet and pressed the cold switch for cold water. She rinsed out her mouth and the nasty taste of vomit finally left her mouth.

Riddick muttered something under his breath and he replied, "I already explained that."

"The fuck was everyone on that GODDAMN ship thinking!" Rakka cried helplessly. "They just sat fucking by and let MY son get molested by that cockteasing bitch! Nothing good ever happens on this junkheap from hell! This is it! No more! Soon as possible I'm taking my kids and getting off!"

There was, yet, another long silence.

Rakka swallowed, her throat sore, and said, "I didn't mean. . ."

Riddick shook his head and said, "You meant every word, sister, and I agree with you."

Rakka felt another large stone settle in her stomach along with the others caused by Roland and Dame Vaako. "Riddick, I didn't mean about leaving."

"Maybe you did and maybe you didn't. But seems like a good idea."

"You want Jack and me to leave?"

"Fuck, no." Riddick ran his large hands over his shoven scalp. "But we've been shittin' ourselves for the last two years."

Rakka covered her face with both of her hands and felt like sleeping and waking up and hopefully that whatever was happening now will stop by the time she awakens.

"Ever since you brought yourself and the kids on this heap, I've been. . .lookin' out for you. There's fuckers on this ship that would happily hurt you and Jack to get at me. You don't know about all the shit I had to do in order to you keep you safe for the last two years." Riddick rolled his head around on his neck as if stretching out a kink. "Even despite all that shit, Chronis still manage to come in here and hurt you. Rakka, he's up to somethin'. I don't know what, but that old fuck doesn't do anything that isn't for himself. I want you off this ship."

"Come with us." Rakka said something growing inside her head. "Let's just leave. We'll take Jack, Roland, and Carol with us. I can make a quick withdrawal from the royal funds. Enough for us to live a good life somewhere far, far away from all this horrible shit. Away from the Necromongers, the Hitomians, and everything else."

"Good idea, honey, too bad its wishful thinking." Riddick sand back down into a nearby cushioned chair. "I leave the Necros and they'll hunt for me across the whole fucked up Universe. The Hitomians ain't gonna let you go, you know that. Both of our governments will sent out rewards for our return and mercs will be givin' us no peace. Not to mention that Roland ain't gonna wanna come anywhere with us. And do you want to put Jack through goin' into hidin'? We've been through it."

Rakka closed her eyes. "It was a good thought while it lasted."

* * *

Rakka didn't sleep. She couldn't sleep. She stayed up in a dazed not really sure how the hours passed until it was 7:00 in the morning. Then Carol showed up.

She came wearing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Her glasses were perched on her nose and her dark hair was tied up into a loose ponytail. Rakka couldn't help but notice that after the fiasco with Samael that Carol began to dress very modestly. As if she was hiding behind a shell that only she could see and created.

Rakka had offered to pay for corrective laser surgery, but Carol adamantly refused.

"Thank you for coming, Carol." Rakka said uneasily. "I just wish you could have visit under better circumstances."

"Yeah." Carol said looking almost as uneasily as Rakka.

"Well. . .let's just get on with this. When did Roland and. . .Dame Vaako relationship start?"

Rakka sank into a couch while Carol took the nearby cushioned chair. Riddick was leaning against the counter in the kitchen watching the two women through dark discs. Jack was safely away with Rera incase there was some loud drama.

Carol took a deep breath and said, "I don't know the details of when or how it started. I can only tell you how I found out."

"Okay, how did you find out." Rakka swallowed.

"By accident." Carol said bowing her head. "It was two weeks after we were taken from Yari. They gave us each our own rooms next to each other. . ."

* * *

_Carol pressed her face into her. Her stomach was bothering her again. It was familiar feeling she received whenever she had too much anxiety. She was worried about her mother and everyone else on Yari. _

_She sat up in her small bed and stared blankly at the far wall. She felt so alone. Adrian_ _was taken somewhere else and Roland was next door. Roland. . .he must be going through the same thing she was. For some reason, they didn't bother to lock them in their rooms. _

_Carol rose from her bed and threw on some loose clothes. After slipping her feet into her sandals, she exited her room and into the great Necromonger hallway. The Basilica gave an eerie feeling of great unease and it tickled Carol's spine as she took those few steps from her door to Roland's._

_The grand hall was nearly black. Only small sidelights on the walls lining the eeriness of the hallway lit up an otherwise pitch black surroundings. Even seeing her own stretched shadow moved nearly sent her into screaming with fright before she realized what it truly was._

_She was still panting with fear so much that she didn't bother to knock. She pressed the entrance key to the side of the door and stepped inside._

"_Roland?"_

_Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dimness of the room and she realized that Roland might already be asleep. Then it came as a surprise to see the two figures on the couch in the connecting living room from the entrance way._

_Carol's eyes widen and her jaw dropped. Two nude figures. One with pale skin and the other darker. A pair of silvery orbs wide with fright and a pair of dark smiling eyes. Her fright and fear of the corridor outside was replaced with the terror of what was before her eyes._

* * *

"I basically just walked in on them one night." Carol said after her story. "Or else I would never have found out."

Rakka closed her eyes fighting the images of that hateful woman touching her young son. However, closing her eyes made the images more vivid and shaper to her mind's eye than she would have liked.

"So what happened next? What was said? What did Roland do?" She let the questions flood from her lips. "More importantly, what did Dame say to you or do?"

""If you're thinking that she threatened me or anything like that, she didn't. She didn't even tell me not to tell anyone. Like she really didn't care that I caught them having sex. She just gave me this amused look. You know the look she has for other women."

Rakka nodded. It was a grinning look which from far away or to a man's eyes looked friendly and promised kindness. But when it was directed toward you, you could easily see the superiority the woman knew she had over you and that you were nothing to her, not even the dust beneath her feet. More than once, Rakka had to endure being under that gaze and all she could do was stare back fiercely with her blue-violet eyes.

"Roland was. . .hell. . .he was acted like any teenage would have reacted. He was so embarrassed and humiliated because of me. He screamed at me to get out and nearly threw a vase at my head. So I got the hell out of there before he could kill me."

Carol rubbed the bridge of her nose and continued, "But Dame Vaako, she just smiled at me so sweetly as if I hadn't walked in on the middle of their tryst."

"So what happened that morning?" Rakka asked.

Carol swallowed and said sadly, "Our friendship started to end."

* * *

_Carol didn't get anymore sleep that night. In fact, she was afraid to sleep. A voice inside her head told her that it was all just a dream, that she DIDN'T see Roland and Vaako's wife together, but her realistic side was stronger._

_She was even more scared than she was the day before. What was going to happen when it came out that Roland was cheating with Vaako's wife? Hell, he was too young to having an affair with ANYONE!_

_It hurt. . .why? It hurt her to see him with someone else? She had no idea that he liked Dame Vaako. She thought that he liked her. Then she must have been wrong._

_Dammit, this was not the time to worried about who likes who. Jeez, they could be killed over this. Was Roland a complete dumbass?_

_A rapping on the door nearly sent her into hysterics. Should she hide? Find a weapon for defense? Rat out Roland? What? What? What?_

"_Carol, it's me."_

_Roland?_

_She slapped the seal to open the door and stared face to face at Roland. He looked the same as he looked every day since she known him her whole life. Loose baggy jeans and a red wrinkle t-shirt with accommodating red shoes._

_Suddenly, seeing him before her, replaced her fear and terror with anger and annoyance. She scrunched up her face and gave him a severe look. How dare he come before her after the things he said last night? Nearly throwing a vase at her. And hurting her by not being in love with her . . ._

"_What do you want?" Carol launched her attack. "Here to call me a pervert again? Or more nasty names? Oh by the way, you didn't get your chance to knock me in the head with a vase yet."_

_Roland flinched, much to her delight and satisfaction. She crossed her arms and strengthen her stance. Roland shrugged his shoulders sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. _

"_Carol, can we talk inside?" Roland asked._

"_Fine." Carol muttered and stood aside to let him walk inside. She shut and sealed the door shut and turned to face him again. _

_Roland started before she had another chance to speak. "Carol, I overreacted last night. I didn't mean those things I said. You scared the hell outta me when you just came in like that."_

_Carol rubbed her face with both hands and said, "I should have knocked. I'm sorry that I didn't knock first before coming in. I was creeped out from this whole ship. . .I didn't want to be alone." She squeezed her eyes and then asked the question she had been wanting to ask since last night. "What was happening last night?"_

_Roland looked away. His face was almost red and he said in a strained voice, "I don't have to answer that."_

"_Yes, you do." Carol said in a hard voice._

"_I don't know." Roland snapped._

"_Roland, that is so retarded. You don't know why you had your. . .THING. . .inside Vaako's wife!"_

_Roland glared at her and said through his teeth, "That is none of your business."_

"_If it isn't my business, than I know whose it is. Vaako's!"  
"He already knows!" Roland blurted out and then winced at his own outburst._

_Carol stared at him not sure whether or not she believed him. "If that's true, then why are you still walking and breathing. He would have killed you. How did he find out?"_

_Roland looked humiliated and embarrassed again and he refused to look at her. "That is none of your business."_

_It clicked inside Carol's head and she said, "He walked in on you two, just like me!"_

_Roland didn't make any kind of reply, and nor did he looked at he to give herr any confirmation. _

"_If you were trying to keep your little affair a secret then you two are doing a very good job at it." Carol commented._

_Roland still refused to give any reply on the matter. Carol stared at his back and waited for a reply that refused to come. _

_She took a deep breath and tried, "What did Vaako say to you after he found out?"  
"Nothing." Came the too short reply. _

"_No, na-uh, no way. You are lying. There is no way in hell is a husband not have something to say to the guy sleeping with his wife. He must have done or said SOMETHING to you."_

"_You know," Roland spoke up, "She said you would act like this."  
"Who said I would act like this?" Carol asked despite the rising fear that she already knew the answer._

"_Jenna. She told me that you had feelings for me. That you would be jealous."_

_Carol opened her mouth to rebuke this. To deny her that she would ever be jealous of that old woman. . .then, how did she feel? _

_A surge of rage crept up on her at that woman being right. She did like Roland, she really did. And it hurt her for it to come out like this. What caused her the most agony was oh too apparent rejection from Roland._

"_Get the hell out." Carol muttered. "Just get the hell outta here, okay? Obviously you don't want to listen to me so you can keep screwing her. I'm not jealous! Why the hell would I want you? You're into old disgusting women and who wants that?"_

"_Yeah?" Roland rose up the presented challenge. "I don't remember seeing many guys going over themselves to get with you."_

_Carol could not comprehend the ugliness that seemed to be taking over Roland and nor did she attempt to. An hatred and angry pain welled up inside her chest and she had not the experience or the maturation to know how to control it or quell its wrath within her heart. It exploded and overwhelmed her emotions._

"_Fucking FINE!" Carol screeched, her spittle flying at him. Her eyes flashed with rage that she couldn't control. "Get the fuck out! Get out and catch a disease from that old hag for all I care! I can't wait until I tell your mom!"_

"**_DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!"_**

_Carol's back and shoulders hit the wall as she was propelled backwards by Roland's sudden attack. The back of her skull cracked against the metallic making her see stars for a matter of seconds. She crumbled onto the floor dizzy and stunned to much it hurt her temples._

_Roland was kneeling before her and speaking to her. She couldn't understand or comprehend what he was saying, so shocked as she was by what had just happened to her. When she was finally able to compute Roland's words, she felt empty._

"_Carol, I am so so sorry! I really really am! I don't know what came over me!" He pleaded with her and his voice was strained with fear and panic. "I'll make it up to you, I swear it. But please please please don't tell my mom. Okay? It'll just cause trouble and she doesn't need to know anything about this. I am so sorry. Just please promise you won't tell me my mom."_

* * *

"So then I promised not to tell you, but then after that our relationship changed and our friendship ended." Carol finished her tale with a low sigh.

Rakka chewed the inside of her cheek and stared at Carol with blank eyes. Had she been so blind? So stupid not notice the changes going on between Roland and Carol. Of course, she had seen the apparent changes on the outside. Roland retreating from her and Carol's near liaison with Samaiel, but she did not how deep it ran.

Rakka licked her lips and said, "Carol, I am so sorry. I had no idea."

Carol slightly shook her head and gave Rakka a sad smile. "How could you? Everyone had to unspoken agreement on not telling you anything that could upset you since you were having such a rough time."

Rakka swallowed and said, "From now on that changes. If ANYTHING, I mean anything that happens from now on, tell me. Don't keep it from me, okay? Even if it might make me upset, you tell me."

Carol nodded. Riddick said not a word. He had been watching the exchange from the outer edges of the kitchen. He leaned against the wall with his thick arms crossed over a broad chest.

"I won't tell Roland about anything that you told me." Rakka promised Carol. "But can't you tell me more about how Dame Vaako reacted. Surely, she must have said more or done something else?"

Carol shook her head. "As far as I can remember, she had never spoken a word to me since I first came onboard the Basilica."

Rakka rubbed her chin in thought. It seemed to her that Dame Vaako was unafraid of any retribution from either her or Riddick. Was she as untouchable as Riddick had told her that she was?

"Carol, thank you for coming and telling me this." Rakka said pushing herself to her feet. "I wish you could have come over for a happier meeting."

Carol also got to her feet and said, "I'm sorry too." She then pursed her lips and said, "I may be leaving soon."

Rakka looked at her surprised. "What?"  
Carol scratched her chin, while looking away. She looked like she was afraid to continued, but she said, "I applied for a scholarship to the Medical Academy on planet Hrean. It's an all expense paid scholarship. It'll pay for my tuition, material, and room and board. It even offers an internship with the local hospital. So I'll have a pretty decent job to keep me going. I might end up living there either being a professor or a doctor. I'm not sure yet."

Rakka couldn't respond quite yet. At least, not like she had sense in her head. "You're moving?"

"Possibly." Carol shrugged her shoulder. "Sooner if I get this scholarship, if not, then there are others I could apply for. I have enough credits and I have a 4.0 average. I'm sure that someone's going to bite the hook."

"Carol, you don't have to leave." Rakka said reaching out to Carol. She cupped the girl's upper arms in a motherly way. "Carol, if there's anything you needed, Riddick and I. . ."

Carol shook her head and stepped away from Rakka's hands and held up her hands, "No, this is something I need to do on my own and also. . ." Carol looked away again and said, "I need to get off this ship. I. . .there's something about this ship . . ." Carol knitted her brows and shook her head, "Never mind, it's not important. I need to support myself anyway."

Rakka bit her bottom lip and her mind raced to think of a good reason for Carol not to leave. "I really don't want you to leave. You're part of a family here and we would hate to loose you."

Carol nodded her head, but said nothing more.

* * *

Carol left a few minutes after leaving Rakka feeling heavy and very tired. She felt as if that she failed her. Rakka had felt it was up to her be become Carol's third mother, but yet again, she was rejected once more by a child.

Rakka wanted to feel angry. Carol owed her. She owed her a lot. It was because of her that she got into those elite online courses to begin with. For the last two years, she had clothed, fed, and even paid for Carol's education. She would even put up the money required for any corrective eye surgery Carol would need to correct her vision so she wouldn't need glasses. The way Carol looked at her. . .like this was her fault. That somehow Rakka had failed her.

A groan ripped free from Rakka's throat, causing Riddick to turn and looked at her, his head tilted at an angle. She turned away from him not wanting him to see how upset Carol had made her. Sure enough, he would have something to say about that too.

She heard Riddick utter the first syllable of her name and she whimpered, "Riddick, please, if you say anything, I'm going to scream."

She heard Riddick release a deep breath and inhale behind her. It was almost a full two minutes before he said, "Jack still needs you and he's gonna need ya for hellalot more years to come."

The urge to scream died in her throat and she closed her eyes and prayed.

* * *

"Roland?"

Roland blink, very much surprised to hear his mother on the other end of the com. He stood wear skin tight fitting suit, which is worn under a layer of armor in any Necromonger armor. He had been preparing to go and field test his squads, go through simulations and what not. It annoyed him that the com had starting clamoring for his attention as he was carefully getting into his skin suit.

"Mother?" It wasn't unusual for his mother to call him. Often to invite him over for a meal, or to see how well he was faring; which were small attempts to draw him back to her, pick up to where their relationship was before she betrayed their family.

However, there was something in her voice that gave him a bad feeling about why she was giving him this particular call. Her voice sound strained as if something was squeezing her throat and it was taking all she had to speak to him.

"Roland, we have to talk about what's going on with you and Vaako's wife."

He'll always remember that moment as being the strangest moment in his life. He didn't feel shock, though it was there, but not how he anticipated it to be when or if this ever happened. It was like being on a ship that was coming in for a landed too fast. There the high thrill of uncertainty whether or not you're going to survive the possible crash, but then gaining the skiff under steady control and coming in for a smooth landing. Like taking a quite fall, but then floating calmly to the ground.

He took a deep breath and said, "We'll talk later."

"Roland, no, you either come to our apartment now or I'm going down there to the barracks and have it out there. I'm sure you don't want your mother down there embarrassing you in front of your troops."

Roland swallowed and bit back an urge to yell into the com. It was considered bad character to not show up for a scheduled training within the Necromonger military and postponing was just as bad. However, he had no choice. He knew his mother would make good on her promise and it would be disastrous to his position and standing.

He had no choice, but to relent. "I'll be on my way, but, Mom, it's nothing to start a mess over."

There was a short pause and the reply was, "I'll be the judge of that, Roland."

* * *

_She didn't know of how it was going to turn out. Or what would be said or done. She didn't know whether there would be cool calmness or fiery rage. Shouting, screaming, yelling, hollering, punching, scratching, slapping, tears, sobbing, crying, choking or what not. _

_She had an idea of what to expect, but when it happened, it shocked her to the core._

* * *

Roland came. He had come wearing dark velvet pants and a dark violet jerkin. He also wore laced up boots that nearly clung his calves up to his knees. He looked like some dark prince with his caramel skin, shaven scalp, and visor to hide his eyes. She didn't like his appearance. He never looked more unlike her Roland than ever. He refuse to sit down when she offered him a seat nor did he accept any offers for food or drink.

"I simply want to get this over with, "Mom"." Roland said and Rakka twitched an eyebrow at the mention of mom.

She swallowed, her arms cradling her beasts, gripping her elbows and leaning against the couch arm. Riddick was reclined into the far armchair taking a backseat, but she could feel his eyes watching the scene with a tensity that she could cut with a knife.

"Roland, I don't think this is going to be over just like that." Rakka said shifting her feet. "This is very serious, maybe more than you know."

Roland actually rolled his eyes. "Mom, you should obviously know," he glanced over at Riddick, "that sex isn't that big a deal. Everyone does it."

Rakka shook her head and said, "No, sex is wrong in certain situations. It's especially wrong when a woman seduces a young naïve boy for her own sick pleasure."

Roland curled his upper lip and his eyes darken. "I wasn't naïve. I knew exactly what was going on the whole time."

"I have no doubt about that, but Roland, she's using you. I don't know for what purpose whether it's for her own pleasure or for something else, but I just feel it that that woman has NO love you and doesn't . . ."

"Mom, I know that. I know that she doesn't love me. She told me so years ago."

Rakka was taken aback for a second, stunned. She had been certain that that had been one of the lies that Dame Vaako would have said to have her way with Roland. She swallowed and said, "How did this happen?"

Roland crossed his arms. "She was honest with me. Which is more than you ever were."

Rakka expected this jab toward her and she swallowed it like bitter drink. "What did she say?"

Roland looked disappointed as if he had expected her to bite his bait. He shrugged his shoulders and inclined his head. "Right after the first 'few times'," he purposely insinuated 'few times' and it was like a jab at Rakka's heart. "she told me simply. That it was just sex, not love, sex. She said not to expect it to go anywhere further than the bed." He stepped forward toward her as if a fire was being lit within him propelling him forward. "She was honest with me. She respected me enough to tell me the truth. She told me the truth even though it would hurt me."

"She didn't care whether it would hurt you or not." Rakka retorted standing her ground and he came almost four paces from her. "Roland, don't you dare turn this back on me. I didn't call you over here to argue over something that happened years ago. . ."

"Aren't you?" Roland snapped bursting into her speech. "I've been screwing Vaako's wife for years. You wanna know something else, we did it again last night too. And you know something else also, there's nothing you can do about it."

He was bearing down on her and she was forced to step back away from him or else he would knock her backwards from the force of his comeuppance. He face was hardening with anger and she felt the trimming of terror that he would soon raise a hand to strike her.

"Wanna know somethin' else, I screwed the slut before you."

It was like someone took a hammer and smashed it though the dark cloud hovering between her and Roland. They both twisted to look at the dark figure they had both forgotten reclining on the armchair across the room. His teeth gleamed like white pearls at both of them, but it was mostly aimed at Roland.

"Ya know about that small birth mark on her right thigh. And how if you bite her nipples just right it makes 'er growl. I think the bitch musta drew a pint of blood by the time I got tired of her. Ya know, clawing my back up all to hell." Riddick studied Roland's face and said, "She never told ya that she use ta fuck me?"

Rakka averted her gaze to Roland's face and saw that he had paled and his eyes were wide and empty. He moved his lips to speak, but he couldn't say anything.

"Hmmm. . ." Riddick looked amused. "If she was being honest with you, ya thought she woulda told ya about sumthin' like that."

Roland found his voice, "That is not true. . ."

"Oh, it is. Ask around. They'll tell ya." Riddick grinned. "Or better yet, ask yer mother."

Roland turned to her. Rakka had no choice. She swallowed and said, "When I first met her, Roland, she practically told me that she had been sleeping with Riddick and she was rubbing it in too."

Roland shook his head. "I can't believe this."

"It's true, Roland." Rakka said.

Riddick sat up placing his elbows on his knees and leaned forward to steeple his fingers. "What's wrong, Roland? You looked upset like you don't want her to have anything to do with me? I thought that since she didn't love you that it wouldn't matter to you if she was fucking me?"

Roland's shoulders began to shake and his lips were set into a tight line. Rakka stepped forward to touch his shoulder. To comfort him, heal him, let him know that she hated that he was in pain and wanted to ease it in any way she could.

He twisted away from her as if her hand had burned him and turned on her. His eyes blazed with silvery fire at her. He grabbed her arm in a vice-like grip and he threw an accusing finger at Riddick. "HOW CAN YOU BE MARRIED TO HIM?"  
The question threw Rakka completely off her guard and she was unable to answer or prepare for the onslaught.

"Mom, my God! He's over there BRAGGING about screwing another woman! How in Hell can you willingly marry this piece of garbage! You act as if he's over there bragging about a trophy, as if it was NOTHING! Mom, you WOULD NEVER PUT UP WITH THAT FROM DAD!"

Rakka felt her throat constrict with pain and grief. She knew exactly who Roland was referring to and it wasn't Riddick. Terry, who was the man she had married and who had been a father to Roland for 15 years, and also had cheated on her when she was unable to consummate their marriage.

Rakka bit her lip and parted her lips to reassure Roland about Riddick, but then. . .

"She did. Terry screwed around on her."

Oh, dearest God who art in Heaven, please just take her now. To Heaven or Hell, anything was better than what was going to happen.


	77. Blood and Teeth

Hey, I'm back! Sorry about the LONG delay. I'm not giving up on this story, not after 76 chapters and almost 500 reviews. It will be finish. I just took a break from it for a while. I got into Transformers big time, the cartoon, not the toys.

As you can probably already guess, I'm a Decepticon girl. DECEPTICONS FOREVER!

Autobots got some nice bots too, but can't beat those jets. I guess I just like bad boys.

Anyway, I also started some fics from the TF G1 universe. Pink and Red: Which could be considered almost like the Too Dark to See, it's long and about two people meeting one dark night just like Rakka and Riddick.

And Taking Eden: FF10 crossover with Transformers. Yuna accidently gets the Decepticons as Aeons and they have big plans for Spira.

If you like Transformers or just really like my writing, go check these out. They'll help fill you up between chapters. Be sure to review though, let me know if I'm doing something right.

I think that this chapter contains my darkest and scariest chapter yet. Read on, but not in the dark.

* * *

"Riddick, don't." She pleaded even though she knew it was futile. Riddick would do what Riddick wanted to do. "Please, not now, not like this. I am begging you not to do this."  
Roland's lips quivered and he stared at the look on his mother's face. "Mom, is what he saying true?"

Rakka bit her lips and looked away. She closed her eyes and could say nothing. She didn't have the strength, however, her silence told everything.

"That is a fucked up lie." Roland said through gritted teeth. "Dad loved us, he would never. . ."

"He did love us." Rakka interjected sharply. She was so in shock and distress that she was shaking. "He loved us both. Yes, there was problems in our marriage, but. . ."

"But your Dad went out to get some cuz yer Mom wouldn't give him some."

"RIDDICK!" She shriek feel as if he tore a chunk out of her soul.

Roland furrowed his brows and Rakka could see his teeth gritted through his parted lips. She could feel the smoldering anger breezing off his being. She swallowed an almost choking lump in her throat.

"Mother, tell me what the hell your marriage with Dad was like?" Roland said with surprising calmness.

Rakka hesitated and stiffen. "Roland, I loved Terry. I truly did. When I was pregnant with you he stood by me, even though I tried to drive him off many times, he still wanted to love me and be with me. I had been through some terrible, terrible times before I met Terry. I was very paranoid and it was very hard for me to trust anybody. It was your Terry's family who took me in and brought me out of my shell. Even after I married Terry, I still couldn't fully open myself up to him. . .not like I can with Riddick."

"Mom, do you know that that makes no sense whatsoever to me." Roland said steadily. "Dad was. . .a great man. And Riddick. . .is this. . ." Roland couldn't think of any words that could rightly describe the loathsome thing that is Richard B. Riddick. "Dad would never have done that to you. Riddick would, he even admitted to it."  
"The only woman I fucked for the last two years is yer momma." Riddick inserted.

"YOU SHUT UP!" Roland screamed whirling around to face his biological father. "YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE, GODDAMN YOU!"

For once, in a very long time, Rakka agreed with her son. "Riddick . . ."

"I'm getting out here and this shit hole of lies." Roland hissed through his teeth.

"No, Roland, please, don't go." She reached out to touch his arm.

He reacted as if she had swung a knife at him. It happened so fast. She was falling backward and her shoulders hit the arm of the couch, hurting her and knocking the air from her lungs. Yet, her eyes took in the dark flashes of movement before her. Like dancing black blurs.

When she could regain her breathe and see clearly, her heart stopped and her blood gelled in her veins. Roland was on his back with Riddick atop of him, pinning him to the floor. Roland held a gun with the barrel pressed to Riddick's forehead and Riddick held a shiv against an artery in Roland's neck. A low wailing sound was in the room and Rakka realized it was coming from her.

Roland was staring fiercely into Riddick's eyes without fear in his eyes. Riddick was calm, no anger, no fear, no rage, just business as usual. It didn't matter if it was his son beneath him with a gun to his head and a shiv to his throat, this was an enemy that would willingly end his life.

Their chests . . .over their hearts . . .were a glowing handprints. The handprints were glowing sharply on their skins as if there pulsing hands on their breasts. They seemed to pulse in unison with their hearts, which was hard and constant.

"Na . . .naoo . . .no, stop." Rakka found her voice and it was choked and full of terror.

She could loose her son by the hands of her husband or her husband by the hands of her son. Or loose them both. Any mother or wife's worst nightmare came to life before her. She was ignored and she was scared to death of approaching them herself for fear of setting them off.

It was almost a full minute of silence between the three of them. Then Riddick grinned despite the look of intense rage and hatred reflecting in Roland's eyes. "Think you kin pull the trigger faster than I can cut this artery?"  
Rakka felt air escaped her throat, but no sound could or would come out.

Roland bared his teeth like a feral dog and said, "Think you're faster than a bullet, 'father'?"

"I asked you first, 'son'." Riddick brought his face closer, the barrel dug into his forehead and it had to hurt, but he acted as if it was nothing. "My shiv is pointed to one of the main arteries that take blood to the brain. I cut it and your brain's gonna be lacking blood. Might cause you a stroke or brain damage, fuck, might even kill ya too if yer momma can't get the medics here in time.. Before your time."

Roland's face blanched, but he kept his teeth bared at his father. "I can kill you right now."

Riddick shrugged and dug his shiv a bit deeper into Roland's throat. "Didn't I just tell you the same thing?"

"Nooooo." Rakka moaned, her hand outstretched toward the two men she loved in her life.

Another minute of silence crept by and it was like a piece of sandpapers across her brain. It was a test of wills between the two men before her and she knew that Riddick was as stubborn as a planet in its orbit. He didn't fear death, nor would he shy away from killing his own son.

It all came down to Roland.

Rakka prayed that he would be wiser than his father. She willed him to comply and put his gun away. To choose to live, not certain death.

Roland licked his lips. "I'm going to put the safety on the gun."

Riddick bobbed his head. "Wise move."

Roland flexed his thumb near the trigger and the gun powered down. Riddick lifted off him and stood straight. Rakka felt as if every bone in her body had disappeared, the relief made her sag to the ground and she lay flat out on the floor.

Riddick didn't offer a hand to Roland so the younger man stood up on his own. His eyes never left Riddick. Rakka got to her feet weakly. She wanted to put her arms around both men, but she dared not approach them. She was afraid of them. Afraid of her own son and husband.

The handprints over their hearts faded just a bit, but the energy was there. It crackled in the air and prickled against her skin. Riddick's veins seemed to glow against his dark skin and Roland's were slowly fading, as if retreating or surrendering.

Roland stepped backwards to the door without taking his eyes off his father and ignored his mother's tears. He opened the door with one hand behind him and stepped back through it.

"Roland . . .?" She called reaching out to her firstborn.

The door hissed shut cutting him from view. The silence that followed was so thick, it hummed in her ears. She realized her body was trembling and she was whimpering. Riddick stood away from her and pocketed his shiv.

He never looked more exotic, deadly, dangerous, and desirable. He breathed, his frame expanding so slightly, his tongue trace over his full lips. Rakka felt her loins burning and she felt revulsion at him and herself.

This man had almost killed her son, his son, and now he was arousing her. She was still breathing hard, whether from arousal or fright, she didn't know. She found her voice and said tembling, "You . . .you would have killed him."

"He woulda killed me."

She blinked and the tears bled down her cheeks. "You . . .you started it."

"What?" He fixed his silvery gazed on her penetrating her with his gaze. "Shock him with the truth? Stop handling him like a baby, bitch."

"He couldn't handle that." Rakka sobbed. "You shouldn't have done that to him. I would have . . ."

"Don't fuckin' lie to me, sweetheart." He moved sleekly toward. Only other creature that could move like him would have to be a panther stalking a wounded doe. He towered over her, his size twice hers and more. He grasped her chin and forced her head back to look at him face to face. His hard fingers dug into her skin, not enough to hurt, but hard enough to let her know that it COULD hurt. "You'd keep him in the dark, bitch, if you could."

Rakka couldn't lie, not to Riddick's face. "He doesn't need to know."

"He shoulda known. He put that Terry bastard up on a pedestal and in his mind I'm on the lowest rung of the ladder."

Rakka tried to pull herself out of his grip, but he held on. She gripped his wrist and felt the potential energy in the bones, tendons, and muscles beneath the bronzed skin. The energy seemed to bleed into her palm and wrist. She blinked her eyes, his veins; the glowing light tracing his veins was seeping into her skin. The energy was seeping into her through her arm.

She dropped her hand away from his wrist and jerked her head to get away from his grip. Riddick was stronger and his fingers dug in. "Let go."

Her hand tingled from the bubbling energy that mingled with hers. Riddick slide his other arm around her and the energy pervaded through her shirt and into her body. It wasn't hurting her, in fact it felt good, but it was unnerving. Riddick was doing this, she knew he was.

"Riddick, what . . .what is this?" She whimpered as she squirmed against him.

"Hell if I know." Riddick replied bringing his face close to hers. He flicked his tongue across her lips. He inhaled her scent so deeply, his expanded chest pressed against hers. He licked his lips, tasting her scent like a great cat.

Rakka was trembling. From the invasion of energy, arousal, and the sweet poison of fear. She was intoxicated with Riddick, his scent, his strength, the feel of him against her, his energy, and the sound of his lusty groan as his hand dropped to wrap powerful fingers around her throat. Yet, she was terrified, this . . .this was different than anything she had ever experienced with Riddick.

His scuffle with Roland triggered something. What? She didn't know, but she could guess that it had something to do with them having Furyan blood. Was this a Furyan thing right now? What the hell is this? No one knew, the Furyans were gone, except the one holding her right now.

His hand trailed over her collar bones, over her breasts, making her nipples peak under her shirt and bra, and down her stomach. It finally ended at his hip and his shiv was collected.

She swallowed. Cutting off her clothes again or play another game with her.

Riddick lifted the shiv to her jaw line and traced it gently. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and told herself that it was Riddick playing his game again . . .then a sharp pain on her jaw interrupted her thought.

A small streamer of blood dripped off her jaw and onto her collarbone.

She stared, blue-violet eyes wide, with horror at her lover. He had cut her, he had actually drawn blood. His eyes were focused intensely on the streamer of blood and his eyes seemed to flare in the dim room. He leaned forward and Rakka knew what he was going to do, but it shocked her nonetheless.

His tongue drew the small bit of blood into his mouth and he lifted his head. His eyes closed and savoring the taste of her life spring. The energy in his veins flared and brightened. He swallowed, his throat flexing, and he opened his eyes.

Rakka felt terror grab her heart with fingers of ice. His eyes were empty, void, but there was something there lurking behind them, peeking out at her, seeing her, wanting her. To have, to taste, to fuck, to eat. Of all the expressions on his face to see, she never thought he would look at her as if he wondered what she tasted like in a carnivorous stare.

His Beast, his Animal, was peeking out and it saw her and wanted her.

"Rid . . .Riddick . . ." She whimpered. It's been years since she feared for her life around Riddick.

He brought the blade close to her face again.

She broke. She struggled, her hands beating at his chest, her legs kicking, trying to carry her back away from him. He gripped at her arm from behind her back with his arm around her, but she spun spitting and screaming at him. He had only to flick his wrist and she was on her knees, wincing in pain as he twisted her arm.

She silently cursed herself for her stupidity. Struggling only aroused him further.

He lowered, bending his knees in one fluid movement. It was as if he had muscles in places that no human had muscles. A wicked smile touched his lips, no, not a smile, a baring of teeth.

"Riddick, stop." She whimpered. "You're . . .you're hurting me."

To her immense relief, he pocketed his shiv slowly, but it was gone nonetheless. But what still frightened was the streaming lights of his veins remained and did not dim away. She reached out, praying to God, that she could reach him.

Her hand touched his shoulder and he tensed, not flinching, just a reaction to being touch. "Riddick, let me go. You are hurting me and you are scaring me."

Oh God, when this was over and she survived, they were going to have one hell of a row.

Riddick's lips drew back into a real grin and his hand tightened his grip on her arm making her cry out and his other hand grabbed her knee and pulled. She yelped as she was propelled backwards onto her back and Riddick was followed smoothly and easily. He had plenty of experience restraining others.

"Riddick, stop it!"

Her shirt was ripped up and her bra was hooked by a hard hand and lifted up until the clips her spine ripped from the fabric. It hurt when the elastic line cut into her skin and the broken clips left small red lines on her back as the ruined bra was yanked off her and cast away.

Her pants were literally ripped off. There was no unbuttoning or unzipping, there was only rip and tear around her pelvis. The cotton hung in tatters about her hips.

She arched her back, trying to shove him off her, but it was like trying to lift a tanker. He wasn't moving unless he moved himself.

"Stop! Stop it!" She howled as his hand curled around her panties and pulled. The thin white cloth split in her two in his hands and was discarded. During this whole time, the energy blaring in his body was entering into hers. It was hurting her far less than Riddick's rough handling, but it was unnerving as hell.

She heard the familiar zip and jingle as his belt was undone with one hand. Oh, God, he was going to rape her. She forced herself to lay still and just take it. If she struggled it only aroused him and could cause her more harm than good.

Warm breath touched her face and his body shift against hers. Her legs were guided apart and his warm pelvis settled against her crotch. He left her hands free and she raised them to his face. Her hands touched his face, palms against his hard cheeks.

Even though he was hurting her, she loved him. And she realized that Riddick could do his worse and she would still love him. Even if it meant killing her firstborn, she'd still loved him. God in Heaven, help her, she held unconditional love for this killer.

"Riddick, honey, I love you, but please don't hurt me, okay." She begged and her fingers trembling against his cheek bones. She swallowed and a small smile tugged at her lips, "Let me up and we can bring Jack home. We can have lunch and . . ."

Maybe it was something he was planning on doing or maybe when she brought up lunch . . .

Riddick's face softened or more likely relaxed. He slid his hands off her shoulders to be palm flat on the floor. His upper body lowered and his face was inches from hers. His eyes were empty, but the Beast was no longer there and that HAD to be a good sign at least.

She kissed his lips softly and gently. Almost like a child's kiss.

Riddick's eyes darkened, a white beam glanced through them. Then he sunk his teeth into her shoulder.

She screamed and bucked. Her fingers dug into his cheeks leaving twin triple lines on each cheek. His teeth were almost meeting her bone and she screeched so loud and hard it hurt her vocal chords.

Then he finally released her. Blood was on his lips and it was all hers, all hers.

Before she could react, touch her wound, or scream at Riddick with rage, fright, or beg him, he penetrated her.

It hurt. She was not ready for penetration, especially not for his well-endowed length. She gritted her teeth and concentrated on the pain from her shoulder. Her body slowly provided the natural lubrication that it eased the intrusion.

She clung to his shoulders and her eyes watch his muscles flex and move over steel for bone and bronze plated skin.

Fortunately, it was short. Riddick released deeply inside her, his fluid mingled with hers, secretion and a bit of blood. The release seemed to also release the energy from his veins. The lights glimmered and then died out.

Riddick took long gulps of breath and she never seen him so exhausted. He collapsed on top of her and she slid her arms around him shivering and sobbing into his shoulder. He moved, shoulder moved away and his face was on hers.

She willingly accepted his mouth over hers. Her tongue gliding over his and his teeth, she tasted his saliva mingled with her blood. She also tasted the salt on his lips and lightly tugged at his lips with her teeth.

He turned his head away from hers and his whole body relaxed on top of hers. She was able to breath, but unable to move. His breathing, on the other hand, relaxed and came in a steady rhythm.

She realized that he had fallen asleep. Never like this did he ever sleep around her. Not out in the open, with his stomach down, and shiv not close to his reach. His arms were around her and he was sleep on her like a child might sleep with a favored toy.

She curled her arms around him and ignored the pain in her shoulder and pressed her cheek against his. She whispered soft words into his ear and hoped that he heard them.

"_I love you, Richard B. Riddick. And nothing you could ever do will make me stop loving you. And may God have mercy on my soul for that."_


	78. Aftermath

She didn't know how long she lid there, trapped beneath the big man who had raped her.

Yeah, rape, this time it really was rape.

Maybe not since her time in the slam, but even then she had given in. This time, she had resisted, slapped at him, told him to stop, and he had torn off her clothes, and brutally penetrated her. Marital rape and now what the hell is this going to do to their marriage, for what it was.

He was still partially inside her and his once hard and painful length had softened into a harmless lump inside her. She was stroking the back of his head, her fingertips and palms rubbing against the fine stubbles and her other hand stroked his back in rhythm. His hard muscle lined with smooth skin, with raised mounds of scar tissue greeted her hand through his black shirt.

She bit her lip and tried not to remember the glowing blood that lined his veins, the ominous handprint over his breast. Furyan. That was what she married and she knew nothing about them except that the Necromongers had destroyed them before she was born.

Her son was Furyan, or half Furyan, but his handprint had shone as bright as his own. Sliver eyes, and glowing handprints. What did it mean? What had just happened between Riddick and Roland?

He grunted above her and startled her by shoving himself up. He gracefully rolled off her and looked around, eyes wide, shiv in hand.

"Riddick?" She whispered staring at him and she reached out to touch him.

He jerked back so roughly he collided with the wall hard enough to make her since. He held the shiv between them and his eyes were on her face as if he didn't recognize her.

"Riddick . . .?" She whispered again. Was this him . . .was it possible . . .scared?

Then he relaxed, the tension pouring out his frame. He lowered the shiv and stood straight to pull his pants up and buckle his belt. His movements were jerky and quick, not slow with potential energy as was his usual movement.

Rakka got achingly to her feet and would have pulled up her pants too, but her jeans had been ripped apart. "Riddick . . ."

"Shut up." He snapped at her.

She flinched and hugged herself. Her hand touched her bitten shoulder and winced. It was still bleeding a little and a bruise. "I . . .I need to get this treated."

"Fuck." Riddick hissed and grabbed her arm and hauled her with him. She yelped as undue strain was placed on the bite, but she manage to follow him without tripping.

He shoved open their bedroom door and half carried her in. He slammed the door shut behind him and pushed her toward the bed. "Siddown."

She sat on the bed and watched him slip into the bathroom. She knew what was in there, a very well stocked first aid. It was a silent agreement between them that no matter where they lived or stayed, they would always have a first aid kit with them. The kits they carried had a bit more than the usual kind. It held sutures, a hypo-gun with a variety of injections for antibiotics and tetanus and fast heal, and several tools for which she couldn't guess the use for.

He returned with kit in hand. "Strip off the shirt."

The shirt came off easily along with her ruined bra. She ached from bruises on her back and arms where he had rough handled her. He set the kit by her thigh and unclick it open.

He worked silently and efficiently as if he was working with shivs. Rakka watched his large hands clean her wound with sterilizing foam and wipe it tenderly clean. Her mind swept back toward a time long ago, many days before Roland was a twinkle in Riddick's eye, she had tone this for Riddick when he came back one dark night in a cheap room with a knife wound across his back.

She had been so young and naïve back then. Riddick had seemed like a great force of power and raw sexuality that it had blown her mind sent her into a whirlwind of lust and confused emotions. Sometimes, it was still like that today.

She also noticed that this is the very first time she had been naked, completely vulnerable to Riddick's sexual pursuits and he wasn't making any comments or trying to take advantage of the situation. He kept his attention to the bite on her shoulder and worked silently.

There was no electric charge for her with Riddick leaning over her. It was gone, not there, but would it come back?

He finished taping a skin colored covering over the bite and reached for the hypo-gun and an antibiotic injection. He loaded it and held her arm while he shot it into her flesh. It didn't hurt. It felt like a gently poke than an injection.

"Riddick." She said softly.

He didn't respond. He removed the empty injection tube, grabbed a tetanus injection, and loaded it.

"Riddick, it's okay. You . . .you weren't you."

He grabbed her arm, his fingers digging in. "Shut up."

He injected her almost roughly, the poke felt like a pinch. "Riddick, we have to . . ."

"No, we don't." Riddick threw the hypo-gun into the kit and slammed the lid down.

He picked up the kit and was about to carry it away, but Rakka caught his arm. "Riddick, talk to me . . ."

"What the fuck is there to talk about?" He turned on her and threw the kit to the floor. She winced as it burst open: the hypo-gun skidded across the floor and sutures and bandages spread across the floor like loose feathers.

Rakka felt an ember of anger light up. "For starters you . . .raped me . . .and bit me"

She said it. She said the words that brought the whole thing into the light from the darkness of their silence. She sobbed and covered her face with her hands.

Riddick uttered a string of foul oaths, some of which she never heard before and that's saying a lot since she lived for long with him and his colorful mouth. She shivered and hugged herself tightly; the bite was starting to ache now. She would need to take some painkillers later to ease the pain.

"Rakka," Riddick spoke up. "You have to get away from me. Get off this ship and take Jack with you. Go back to Refuge and this time, sign the damn papers."

Rakka took a shuddering breath and stood. She took the few steps that would take her to his side and touched his arm. He deftly snatched it away from her and stepped out of her reach.

"Riddick, I don't want to go. In fact, I'm won't go." Rakka said in a strong tone that surprised her.

"Bitch . . ." Riddick started turning to her.

She shook her head stubbornly. "If there's one thing I learned from you, is how to tough things out. There is too much for me here that I cannot walk away from. Roland is here and I am not giving up on him. Carol is here too, for however long she is on this ship, I will stay with her and be here for her if she should need me. And you're here, Riddick. Jack loves you and it would devastate him if he couldn't be with you everyday and it would me too, Riddick."

She swallowed and bit her lower lip. Riddick remained still and beautiful almost like a Grecian statue. She approached him again and touched his broad back. Her palms pressed against his hard shoulder blades and drew herself against him. Her bare breasts pressed into his black shirt and the spine beneath, and her nose picked up his scent as her cheek pressed against him. He didn't move away nor react her to touch.

"We have problems." Rakka said into his back. "And yes, we do have . . .special problems that a lot of other families don't have . . . but . . .Riddick, we can't . . .God, I can't believe I'm giving you this speech . . . We can't just give up when things like this happen . . . if we did that . . . we wouldn't be here . . ."

This time he did turn and he caught her arms. His silver eyes weighted down on her face. "You're a dumb bitch, you know that."

Rakka swallowed, but kept her blue-violet eyes on his face. "You care to explain that?"

"Are you blind or you got a short term memory? Sweetheart, I almost fuckin' ATE you back in there." His hands tightened on her arms. "The thing . . .the monster . . .You have no idea what I was going through, what was happenin' to me. Did you know I could hear your fuckin' heart beating? I could smell your fear and I was gettin' off on it. I was gettin' a fuckin' hard on."

"Riddick, you're . . . it'll be alright."

"Don't fuckin' lie to me, bitch, don't fuckin' say shit you don't know about." Riddick snarled into her face. Then he shoved her away from him and said, "Put some clothes on."

She nearly fell backwards onto the bed, he shoved her so hard. She straightened herself on the sheets and saw that Riddick was heading for the door. "Where . . . where are you going?"

"Out. Get Jack and feed him. Don't expect me back soon."

"Riddick, wait! Don't go!" She got up to go after him, but the door was slammed shut blocking him from her sight.

She stood shaking, staring at the door where her husband had left her. She felt sick, mentally and emotionally. She mechanically got dress while her mind stressed over what was going to happen next.

When would Riddick be back? Would he be willing to talk with her about what had happened? God, what was there to say? He had bitten her and raped her . . . no, she was not going to report it or anything like that. This was a family matter and she was going to deal with it herself. Riddick was not himself, no matter what he thought. What was the glow all about? It was what made Riddick hurt her.

It started when he and Roland had almost killed each other. There had been an exchange of energy between their bodies and Riddick's energy had tried to go into her, but . . .was it because she wasn't Furyan?

Dammit all! She needed to find out what exactly a Furyan was. Surely there was some information to be found on the Net. Dammit, people don't just glow like that without somebody doing SOMESORT of research on it.

She marched to the computer console she and Riddick shared in their bed room and logged into the Net. Search Word: Furyan.

* * *

Roland awoke to find himself starving and very thirsty. He got up from the lounge chair he had thrown himself into after . . . visiting his parent's suite. He wasn't sure of how many hours he had spent passed out across the chair and his back felt stiff from the awkward position he had slept in.

He made his way to the small eating area which consisted of a small stove and freezing unit with cupboard. Necromongers weren't much in the culinary department. Their foods were mostly bland and almost without taste and just enough was eaten to stave off the weakness that hunger caused.

However, Roland scarf down several packets of dried crisps before sucking down many glasses full of water. He felt as if he hadn't eaten in days, how long was he actually asleep? He checked the small clock on the far wall and saw that it had only been three hours since he left to visit his parents.

His eating slowed to a slow chew as he thought about the glow, the exhilaration he felt as he scuffled with Riddick. His blood raced through his veins and head, his muscles trilled at the energy passing between them, and held the imaginary taste of Riddick's sweat, flesh, and blood in his mouth . . .By the Underverse . . . what was happening to him?

Riddick, it was his doing. He had to have injected Roland with some sort of drug during the fight without him knowing. Damn him, it would be just like a sick killer like him to inject his own son with a drug. He was lucky it wasn't poison.

Riddick made a fool out of him in front of his mother.

Roland's anger seethed into a radiating fury that caused him to break into a sweat and his vision blurred. He threw the packet of crisps across the kitchen area and stormed toward the comlink resting on the desk in his bedroom. His hands shook as he smashed in the sequence of numbers that would get him Chronis.

Within two minutes, Chronis's grandfatherly voice came over the com. "Roland, it's a pleasure to hear from you. I was just thinking about you."

"Lord Chronis, I will do my part for the Faith. I doubt it no longer. Please, forgive me for my hesitation. I am ready when you are to follow through the plan."

"I am very proud of your decision and I know that it wasn't easy to do."

"When will I need to perform my part?"

"Not for a few more days, but I will notify you immediately when we are ready."

"I look forward to it."

Roland said his goodbyes to the man he thought of a grandfather and signed off the com. He stared at the com and for the briefest second, regretted his hasty decision to sign onto Chronis's plan. Rakka was his mother, and despite all her sins and betrayals, he still loved her and knew that she loved him.

_She's your mother and you love her. You don't want to do this to her . . ._

The image of Riddick's face close to his, his fatal taunting, but what struck out most in his mind . . . was that Rakka was with Riddick. She was unfaithful to his father, Terry, with that man and it revolted him to know that she lived with him and the eyes . . .her eyes, as he held his gun to Riddick's head and Riddick held his shiv to his throat, her eyes not only pleaded with Riddick not to kill him, but with him not to kill Riddick.

He punched the wall hard enough to make his knuckles bleed and seethed with rage and pain. He would do his part and almost with great pleasure. Almost.

* * *

Time flew when your surfed the Net, especially when you are hunting down elusive information.

Rakka furrowed her brows at the holo-screen before her. There were all kinds of information about the destruction of the Furyan homeworld and how they held great hatred for offworlders, but nothing about them in a whole. Nothing about their culture, their ethinicity, their religion, their physiology, not even any artwork or artifacts save for those salvaged from what remained of their cities after the devastation wrought by the Necromongers.

She even typed in Riddick and Furyan in the same search bar, but it just brought up new reports of Riddick's crimes and murders, which she quickly clicked off. She already knew Riddick was a murderer without having to see it in old news reports.

She had taken a couple of pain killers to stifle the pain in her shoulder. She decided to keep it hidden. She knew it would upset Jack and Rera, and no doubt Hera would have something to say to Riddick about it. Who the hell knows Ayamu might think about it.

"Hey."

She jumped in her chair, turned off the screen, and looked over her shoulder to see Riddick standing at the doorway. He held his gazed leveled on her face and he wasn't happy.

"Yes?" She responded nervously.

"Did I tell you to get Jack and feed him? Why the fuck was he still over at Rera's?"

Rakka cringed inside. She had completely forgotten about Jack in her intense search over the Net. What sort of mother was she? "I'm sorry, I'll do get him . . ."

"I already got 'im." Riddick clipped. "He's watchin' cartoons."

"Then I'll get dinner . . ."

"I already got a pan of soup cooking." Riddick knew how to cook, but Rakka knew there would never come a day when she would see Riddick cooking of a whole home cooked family meal when he could just open a couple cans of soup and stir in water and set to low heat.

"Riddick, I'm sorry." Rakka replied standing from the desk. "I forgot all about it . . .okay?"

"On the Net looking for info on Furyans?" His eyes gleamed at her and his jaw tightened.

Rakka stared at him shocked, the air in her lungs gone as if he had punched her in the chest. How did he . . .?

"I've been standin' here watching you for the last five minutes." He answered her silent question.

Her blood turned to ice.

"You ain't gonna find anythin' about Furyans on the Net." Riddick said leaning slightly against the door frame.

Rakka swallowed and said, "You know this by . . . "

"None of your fuckin' business. Get out here and take care of the kid. You're sleepin' on the couch."

Rakka's eyebrows rose high. "Excuse me? Why am I sleeping on the couch?"

Riddick stepped into the room, his wide frame nearly blocking the exit. "Because I said so, bitch, I gonna hafta rape your ass again or yer gonna do what I want?"

Rakka didn't think she heard him right. Her bottom lip trembled and she licked her lips. "Riddick, you should already know . . . you can't push me away. You already tried and it didn't work."

* * *

The next few days, nothing happened except for one event. Carol left on a skiff for a university on Grago which was almost a year away in cryo. Rakka was still stunned even though Carol had told her her plans. She had thought there would be time to talk Carol into staying, but time fell out from under her.

She had been too busy with her concerns for Riddick and Roland. Riddick kept the bedroom and gave her the couch, which was comfortable being big and expensive, but it was wrong. She was the woman! He was the man! By all rights, which for some reason in Riddick's state of mind for which it didn't apply, she should get the bed and he the couch. However, she didn't dare try to bring this point up to him, he would just tell her to fuck off or laugh in her face . . . maybe both.

Roland, who knows what was going on with him, she hadn't seen him since that horrible Argument, which she called the bad event inside her head. He wouldn't answer any comlink messages from her and he would not even answer the door whenever she went to his quarters. Not even Carol could approach him when Rakka went to her for help.

Riddick refused to talk about anything that pertained to the event. He was stubborn not to talk about it as she was stubborn to talk about it. In the end, she gave up as she usually did when it came to matching wills with Riddick. He had played the game a lot longer than she had.

The night before Carol would leave the Basilica forever, Rakka prepared a nice meal and had Carol over. Roland wouldn't come.

The meal was nice and conversation mostly pertained to Carol's plans at the University, Jack, and the good times back on the colony. Riddick was mostly silent throughout the dinner only give few syllable answers when questions were politely tossed to him.

When Jack started to yawn at the table and rub his eyes that Rakka wiped her mouth with her napkin. "Carol, excuse me, but I think somebody needs to get ready for bed."

"No, Mommy." Jack whimpered as she stood and came around to table to collect him from his favorite spot beside Riddick. "I don't wanna go to bed."

"Yes, you do. You tell Mommy you do each time you yawn." Rakka gently lifted him out of his booster seat and held him against her chest. "Say night night."

"Night!" Jack waved at Carol and his father.

Riddick smirked at his son and gave him a nod and Carol waved back at him and said goodnight. Rakka kissed Jack's cheek as she carried him into his nursery. Despite having her youngest in her arms, she was sad that Carol would be taking a skiff to a nearby planet where she would board on a shuttle to Grago. It was such a long way for a girl to go and she would be gone for at least a year due to travel.

Rakka held a sinking feeling that this would be the last time they would see Carol again.

Jack slipped his arms around her neck, his small arm putting pressure on her bite mark. She winced, but said nothing as she held him closer. She had told no one about the bite and had hidden it well by not wearing strapless or thin strapped shirts.

She set Jack down on the floor after she turned on the lights to the nursery. "Honey, you want to wear your star pajamas or your blue one?"

"Mommy, I want my . . . Flutie . . ." Jack tugged at her arms and bounced on his feet.

Flutie being his adopted pet bear which was in reality was a teddy bear. It had been a birthday gift from Ayamu for Jack's last birthday and he was quite taken with it. Jack absolutely refused to go willingly to bed without it.

"Will be good and stay here while I go get Flutie?" Rakka asked him. He would take the bear to dinner and would just casually let the bear stay on the floor while he ate. "I'll be gone for just a second."

"Awright, Mommy."

Rakka headed back for the dinner room, but slowed her movement when she heard Riddick speaking. Who was in there he would want to speak to other than . . .

"I ain't gonna give ya a speech about being a 'good girl', that's the bitch's job. But I am gonna give ya a warnin' about the bad boys."

"Okay . . . Riddick." Came the very unsure voice of Carol.

Rakka stepped carefully to stand near the open door and listen. Riddick had never really taken an interest in Carol's life before and it didn't seem that he cared that she was leaving for a University.

"I ain't sayin' all guys are bad, there are some good ones, but for every good guy there's at least five dogs that'll pull a trickeration on ya just to get in yer pants. And these fuckers know how trick ya into thinkin' they're the other kind. I should know, I was one of the dogs."

Rakka edged over to the right and was able to see Carol staring at Riddick with worried eyes and a tight expression. She too was obviously surprised by Riddick's sudden concern.

"You're smart. Don't drop yer pants just because some fucker gives ya his 'grandmother's ring' or takes ya to his 'secret place' or some bullshit like that. How the fuck do you know that he doesn't have a drawer full of those rings? How do you know yer the only girl he ever taken to that place? Just because the sonuvbitch talks nice doesn't mean he's being true, it just means he knows how to act nice."

Carol nodded. "Yes sir."  
"Be smart. Keep yer legs together. If someone tells you that you need to show them how much you love them, then tell 'em to go to hell. If the guy loves you as much as he claims, then he should understand and respect you enough to wait till yer ready, not when he's ready. To make it short, don't be like Rakka. She knew I was bad, but she still put out for me, now she's do stupid and blind she wants to stay with me even though I'm the worst thing for her."

Rakka swallowed and closed her eyes.

"Yes sir."

"I didn't cut you from yer momma's gut just so you can go and all the time you spent working hard and studying to get into this University and the rest of your life get ruined just because some dumb shit got a hard on."

"Yes sir." Carol had a lilt in her voice.

"I mean it, Carolyn, you got a chance that a lot of people would give an arm and leg to get and you better take it and hold onto it cuz you never know when somebody will take it away from you and there will be fuckers who'll try. You watch out for them and you watch your back. If something feels wrong, then it's wrong. You're a good kid, grow up to be a good adult because there are too many damn bad people out there."

"I will, sir."

* * *

"I heard you preach to Carol tonight." Rakka said as she sat in front of the vanity mirror and brushed her hair.

Riddick was at the computer typing at something. Maybe a report for the Necromonger government, she was never sure. He acted as if she said nothing at all.

"I thought it was nice, not the part where you called me a bitch and made fun of me to Carol, but it was nice all the same. I didn't know you cared that much about her."

Riddick turned off the holo-screen and got to his feet. He was wearing what he had worn to dinner: leather pants and black love sleeve shirt with comfortable looking shoes. He removed his shirt and Rakka was treated to a nice view of his back in the mirror.

She stared at the way the muscles on his shoulders and ribs moved beneath bronzed skin. She swallowed and shifted her legs. Riddick hadn't touched her since that Event. She put down the brush and couldn't decide whether or not to braid her hair.

Yet, the mirror had more for her to see. Riddick was peeling off his pants . . . and he was not wearing any underwear. She held her hair in her hands and stared at his tight rear and perfect legs as he moved toward the bed.

Her heart started to pound as her blood started to heat up. She knew his body so well, she knew every dip, every curve, and every plain of his body, but every time she looked at him, it took her breath away and had her blood rushing.

She wrenched her hair tightly between her hands as he got into the bed nude. He looked at her and watched her watching him. Suddenly, her white night gown felt very transparent and thin on her body.

She pushed herself from the vanity and stood. She wanted to go to that bed and crawl onto the warm sheets and onto Riddick. Slide her arms around that thick torso and kiss that broad chest. Before she realized it, she was half way to the bed.

"You gonna get an extra pillow before hitting the couch?"

She froze and stared at him. The only time Riddick went to bed naked was when he planned on her soon being naked too. Her mouth dropped open in shock and then her brows furrow in anger. "Riddick, you bastard. You fucking prick."

Riddick raised his eyebrows as if he didn't know what she was angry about, but he knew, she bet all four of her limbs he knew. "What are you so bitched up about?"

She gritted her teeth and seethed with fury. "You know."

"No, tell me."

And he was egotistical bastard too. He would just LOVE to hear her tell him how enthrall she is with his body and tell her no all the same.

She stepped forward and snatched a pillow from her side of the bed (she didn't really have a side, the side she slept on was the side that Riddick wasn't sleeping on) and held it to her chest. "I'm going to the couch."

Riddick held a smug look on his face and he had the audacity to run his tongue over his upper lip. His silver eyes traced her figure as if he could see through the night gown. Rakka knew he was teasing her and it pissed her off and she was determined he wouldn't get the last life.

"I don't need you to have a good time. You know something . . . I bet I can go out there and knock on any man's door on this ship and they wouldn't have me sleeping on any couch."

His eyebrows jumped so high, it was almost made her burst out laughing. "Bitch, who ever opens their door for you, is gonna die."

Rakka wasn't intimated. She's been around Riddick too much. "Well, I better give him a very good time being that it will be the last night of his life."

She turned and headed for the bedroom door. She heard the mattress shift and move and she hurried her steps. When she felt him gaining on her, she dropped the pillow and ran forward. She knew better, just flight or fight reflex took over and she knew instinctively that she could not fight Riddick.

His arm snaked around her by the time she got into the den and lifted her off her feet. She nearly yelled in protest as she was swung around against him. Her hair was caught and tilted her head back.

"You wanna get fucked that bad, bitch?" A graveled voice nipped into her ear.

Rakka held onto the arm around her waist and said, "Riddick, you are a selfish tease, you know. For almost a week, you don't want to touch me since you hurt me, but you go in there and practically give me a strip tease and then you throw back into my face about my banishment to the couch. You go back into that bedroom and sleep and I'll sleep on the couch, okay. Dammit, you really think I would cheat on you just to get sex?"

Riddick tilted his head against hers. "You cheated on Terry."

He might as well have punched her in the gut. "You fucking bastard. How dare you. . .get your hands off me!"

She kicked and smacked at his arm until she was set on her feet and she whirled around. Her hand collided with his cheek, stinging her palm as if she had slapped a statue. Riddick lifted his head and regarded her narrowed silvery orbs.

Her chin trembled and she hissed, "You know . . . sometimes I wonder too myself why I'm married you to and why I stay married. It's not like you're ever really kind to me, calling me bitch, making fun of me behind my back, and hurting me just for fun like you did back in the bedroom. When I try to get back at you, you . . . you hurt me even more. But I stick it out and I don't know why because I don't really see the payoff until the next time we have sex. Sometimes I wonder if that's all we have is sex and the kids between us, because I see nothing else."

She realized she was crying. "I love you, Riddick, I love you so much, but I want more from you than just sex, you know, but the thing is . . . I don't know what it is I want from you and whether or not you can give it."

"So you sayin' sex with me ain't enough?"

"I'm saying that it's starting to turn out that way until something changes."

"You mean until I change?"

"You start this shit." She shoved a finger into his chest.

"And you help it right along yourself."  
"Go to bed, Riddick. I'll sleep on the couch and if this conversation is important to you, then we'll talk about it."

"Fuck that. You go to bed. I'm goin' out."

And with that, Riddick got dressed and left the suite. Rakka sat on the bed and thought about her relationship to Riddick. What was love? She knew that sometimes love wasn't enough for any relationship, but she wondered if it was in their relationship? She loved Riddick, but did he love her back? Or did he just think he loved her out of obligation that she ensnared him with the kids and the situation? Was she just a possession for him to keep to himself?

Hell, if she knew.


	79. Betrayal

Carol left the following morning.

Rakka got dressed early and cooked breakfast and left it in the freezing unit before going out to the hangar to say goodbye to whom she had hoped would have been her foster daughter.

They had time to talk while Carol's luggage was loaded and the skiff that would carry her to the planet Hathur where she would board a shuttle that would take her to the Medical Academy on Hrean. However, the trip on the shuttle will take over a year of cryo sleep thus, Rakka will not hear from the girl for at least a year.

This made her feel as if Carol was going to leave for good . . . who was she trying to kid. Of course the girl was going to leave for good. She was getting off this ship and away from the hectic life of being around Rakka and Riddick. After last night, Rakka had the feeling that Carol was smarter than the rest of them combine for finding a legitimate way out and using it.

There wasn't much to say except. "Carol, if you ever need anything, anything at all, you know just call us."

Carol smiled. "I'll be fine. I have a full scholarship and a job waiting for me when I get there. As long as I keep up with my studies, I have nothing to worry about."

Rakka pursed her lips. "Carol, I'm sorry . . . about everything . . . you been through a rough time."

Carol shook her head and waved away Rakka's apology. "I'm not mad . . . at least, not anymore. I'll . . . I really believe that everything will be alright once I get off this ship."

Carol was taking a way out. She was the smart one after all.

Rakka shifted her feet and licked her lips. "Carol, I wish we could have been a family to you."

"You . . . you were . . ." Carol said so softly she was almost whispering. Her eyes were tilted away from Rakka's face. "At least, back on Yari."

Rakka tilted her face away and her vision blurred. She didn't dare blink to clear her vision for fear of releasing the tears that welled up in her eyes. "Did Roland say goodbye?"

There was a long moment of silence and Carol answered. "I don't think we're . . . close enough anymore to say goodbye."

"Oh . . . I see." A small part of Rakka's heart broke to see childhood friends spilt apart. She remembered when they had played together when they were practically babies, dear Lord in Heaven, they were literally brother and sister. "I'm sorry . . ."

Carol shook her head dismissing the unneeded apology. "Please, don't apologize. What happened . . . it happened and . . . there was nothing anybody could have done . . ."

Rakka knew not to ask. She had told herself that she wouldn't ask this question. Carol didn't deserve for her to ask her this, but . . . Rakka found herself asking, "Did . . . did Samael . . . did he get a chance to say . . ."

Carol emitted a soft sound. Rakka couldn't tell whether it was a sigh or a very soft sob and then she said, "We haven't . . . seen or spoken with each other for almost two years."

"I see."

There was a shout from behind Carol. The skiff was ready and the pilot was waiting on Carol. The girl gave Rakka a very false cheerful smile. "Don't worry about me. I'm going on to . . . something much better . . . very much better."

Rakka couldn't disagree with that anymore than she could disagree that water is wet. She reached out and gave the girl a long tight hug. "Carol, I'm sorry, I'm very very sorry about everything. I should have been there for you more."

Carol accepted the hug and wrapped her arms around Rakka's waist. "You give Jack and hug and a kiss from me, okay?"

Rakka gave Carol a kiss on the cheek. "I will, I promise."

Rakka let her foster daughter go and watch her board the skiff. She watch the skiff roar to life and leave the hangar through the safety glass of the tower. She was gone. Gone for good. Rakka failed her, failed herself, and failed yet again as a mother.

Life was a bitch.

She went back to the apartment. She was escorted there by both Hera and Ayamu. Nowadays they escorted her everywhere and she once use to complain, but now she didn't anymore.

Bother Hera and Ayamu wished her good day and she went inside to see an unusual sight. Riddick was sitting on the couch with Jack sprawled across his lap watching cartoons on the vid. She took a moment to watch father and son. Jack looked like the cuter, innocent, miniature version of Riddick whereas Riddick looked like a much larger and rougher version of Jack.

How many fathers would sit with their sons and watch cartoons with them?

She knew Terry watched cartoons with Roland when he was small.

She wasn't sure why, but she never pictured Riddick as a man who would patiently watch silly characters dancing around on a screen with his young son.

Riddick tilted his head and regarded her with obsidian goggles. She stared back coolly and said nothing. She walked to the kitchen and prepared herself a sandwich. Riddick turned his attention back to the screen and whispered something to Jack, something Rakka couldn't hear. The little boy giggled shrilly, kicking his small feet and flopping his hands. Riddick tucked a thick arm around the small torso and steadied the wiggling child.

Rakka ate her sandwich in silence in deep though of what happened last night and the time before that. Their marriage was going down the drain, slowly but surely . . .maybe not as slowly, but then again this was Rakka and Riddick we're talking about.

Rakka finished her sandwiched and threw away the plate and plastic cup she drank tea from and wondered what she should next. Usually, she'd join in on anything Riddick and Jack were doing to make it a family activity. But she was still hurt and angry with Riddick too much to want to be near him.

She went to their bedroom to watch tv until Riddick had to leave for some Lord Marshal activity and she needed to look after Jack or he came in to kick her out so he could sleep. It still pissed her off that he was forcing her to sleep on the couch when it should be the other way around. Bastard.

She spent an hour watching an hour long drama of a series she had taken an interest in recently when Riddick appeared at the door with a sleepy Jack in the crook of one large arm.

"Kid's sleepy." Riddick told her, his face empty as if he was issuing an order to any Necromonger solider.

She bristled, but said nothing. She concentrated on Jack. "Is my little sweetheart, sleepy?"

" . . .nooo . . ." Came the small whining reply.

Rakka swung herself out of the bed, crossed the room, and reached out to take the small child into her arms. She kissed his cheek and patted his back. She walked past Riddick, Jack held to her chest, without looking at him.

She wouldn't see him again until later in a very dangerous place.

One hour after putting Jack to bed, the door chime rang. She had been going ahead of schedule and preparing something for dinner. She had expected it to be Hera or Ayamu coming around to console her on Carol leaving, but it was neither Hitomians.

It was Roland.

She was greatly surprised to see him in the small screen beside the door. She instantly unlocked the door without second thought and opened. "Roland?"

He was wearing black slacks with thin leathered boots and a button up black sleeveless shirt. He had forgone his visor to a simple pair of black shades. He hefted them up the bridge of his nose and gave Rakka a look that bordered on guilt. "Mom, can we talk?"

"Sure, honey, sure. Come in." She stepped aside and allowed him in, still finding it hard to believe he was there.

He walked past her with a subdued nature about him. She shut the door after him and turned. "Uh . . .do you want something to eat?"  
"Yeah . . .Mom, sure."

Roland took a seat at the dining table while Rakka hurried about the kitchen to throw together some sandwiches. She frantically threw together the bread and sandwich meat together as if she didn't hurry back, Roland would be gone. This was the very first time he had come to their apartment without being nagged or coaxed to come by either Rakka, Carol, or even Hera.

Was this a breakthrough she had hoped would come with Roland?  
"Here we are." She approached the table with a tray with two dishes and a plate with ten hastily made sandwiches. She set the tray down and she realized she forgot the tea. "Oh . . .uh . .the tea . .. give me a few minutes . . ."

"Wait, Mom." Roland reached out and touched her arm before she could turn to head back into the kitchen. "Let me."

"Do you . . .remember how?"

"Yeah. I remember. Like I use to back on Yari." His hand tightened on her arm and she felt love bloom within her heart for her eldest.

"Okay." She leaned forward and kissed his head, her lips brushing against his dark hair. "Remember who I like mine?"

"Warm and sweet, no lemon." Roland smiled as he got to his feet.

She took a seat while her son went into the kitchen for the tea. She sat at the table, her fingers lightly tapping its surface while she thought carefully about what she would say to him, the topics she wanted to bring up, and how she would dictate her feelings to him. While she pondered this, Roland was in the kitchen preparing tea.

His movements were jerky and he kept sending furtive glances at the kitchen doorway. After he brewed the tea and poured it into an ornate tea pot given as a gift by the Old Queen, Roland took one last look at the doorway and withdrew a small vial from his side pocket. He unscrewed the cap and sprinkled the powdery contents into one of the teacups and poured warm tea into it mixing the drug into the brew.

He quickly stirred it with a spoon and added sugar to it. He poured tea into the second untouched cup and took a deep breath. It there ever was a last chance to back out, this was it. He could pour out the drugged tea's contents, get a fresh cup, and go out there talk with his mother and go on with life. Or he could give her the tea and follow Chronis's plan . . .

Roland lifted the tray and carried the teacup with the drugged tea to his mother.

It would have helped if his mother didn't have such a loving or trusting look in her blue-violet eyes. The grin she gave him as he brought in the tray and set it on the table before her took him back to his boyhood, back when everything was right with the world and everything made sense.

He felt sick to his stomach as he passed the drugged teacup to his mother. And she accepted it with tears almost in her eyes.

Rakka set the cup on the table and smiled lovingly at her son. "Roland . . .I am so happy to see you."

Roland took his seat and took a sandwich from the center tray. "Listen, Mom, I . . .it . . .I'm happy to see you too."

"I . . .after what happened the last time you were here . . ." Rakka let it trail off, her eyes on Roland's face.

He didn't grimace, instead he took a breath. "I'm very sorry for what happened. I . . .I lost it."

Rakka shook her head. "No, it's understandable and I'm sure . . .that . . .Riddick didn't make it any easier . . .I'm sorry."

Roland eyed her cup and quickly looked up to meet her eyes. "I . . .wasn't ready to hear those things."

Rakka placed her fingers about the teacup and bowed her head over it. "I know . . .I meant to tell you, Roland, I did. . . but . . .I knew it was would be hard to hear or accept do I . . . I wanted to wait, but . . .I guess the good time to let you know never came."

Roland kept his eyes on her face. If she took a sip than he would know she did from her face, without giving all away by staring at the cup. "I understand, Mom."

Rakka lifted the cup, then halted when he spoke. She set it down on her saucer with a soft clink. "Roland, I . . .you do? You really understand?"

Roland took a deep breath. "I didn't at first, but after I thought about it for a while, then . . .yeah . . .I'm not happy about it and I'm still angry about it, but . . .I don't hate you."

Rakka closed her eyes and looked up at him with bleary eyes. "Roland, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you day that."

Roland took a sip of his tea, hoping that Mother see, Mother do.

It didn't work.

Rakka crossed her arms, her hands off the teacup. "Do you . . have any questions for me?"

Roland licked his upper lip. "No . . .not really . . ."

"Well . . .I have some questions for you then."

It was all Roland could do not to groan. "Sure . .. "

"Did you know Carol left?"

"Yeah, I knew."

"Why aren't you eating?"

"Uh . . ?"

"Eat, I made those sandwiches for you. And your tea of getting cold."

"So is yours." Roland chided, hoping that this might work.

"I'm your mother. My job to make sure you drink your tea when it's hot."

"After you." Roland held up his teacup as if to a toast.

Rakka grinned playfully and held up hers. "A toast to maybe having some peace between us."

"Cheers."

Rakka sipped the tea . . .


End file.
